Yep, this is what I do. I annoy the piss out of a lot of people, and I make a few others pretty happy. And there never fails to be a stream of men that want to line up and tell me, "This is a male dominated industry and you are not a part of the target demographic worth considering, so get used to it and take what men are willing to give you." And I will always answer, "My money is as valuable as yours and I want to see change."
I never said only women are capable of writing and drawing female characters. I said that, unless the author is a woman, it's unlikely we'll see an equal representation of men and women. I don't even bother reading anything written by men anymore, because the chance that they'll treat their female characters as people is so slim it isn't worth the time investment. That doesn't mean I think men are incapable of it, or that all women are perfectly egalitarian. I'm sure you'll call me sixist for that, even though I spent the first 26 years of my life reading nothing but classic literature which is 99% male, and you'll never read more than a handful of female authors.
There is no supporting lore I have found that explains the Elder Scrolls' androcentrism. Women seem to be as perfectly capable of achieving status and power in Tamriel as men, and yet the history books and games are still predominantly male. There is no explanation for that other than the creators' own androcentrism. "Men are people and women are women." I don't think it's about a target demographic or any conscious decision at all. I think the creators have grown up in a world where men have held nearly all the important positions of power and visibility, and in a society where men take the lead roles and women exist to act as plot devices. Recreating that sixist dynamic IS NOT A MORAL FAILING. it is a natural and inevitable part of the world in which we live. But just because that is the way things are does not mean that is the way things should be. It takes nothing from you when I criticize an art book that features 7 male characters and 2 female characters. And yet you are terribly threatened by it, every time, and determined to put me in my place.
You are the reason I will not shut up about this, even though I'd love to be able to play a stupid video game like everybody else, without having to worry about this crap.
ESO has been pretty great about easing off the androcentrism, which is why it's disappointing to see it back in this art book. We've only seen about ten pictures of it, but dollars to donuts that's a fair representation of what the rest of it looks like. I would love to be proven wrong. If you can't see why it is important that this book is androcentric, then that's another topic I won't get into, because it's unlikely you'll listen anyway.
If you don't give a crap about any of this, bully for you. Not everyone has to see things the way I do.