Awhile back, I received a thank you card from someone who auditioned for a film. This didn't seem weird to me at first, but when I read it, it turned out I was being thanked for allowing the person to audition. Rather, she wrote this thanking me for writing a fully realized female character, which "are hard to come by nowadays".
This means one of two things:
1) I wrote a really awesome character
2) My fellow screenwriters still write stereotypical female characters, and we haven't come very far in terms of writing for all genders
Either way, I keep this posted in my office at all times as a reminder to myself when writing.
I'm not sure if this was a tirade, a soapbox, or just me rambling.