Sorry for linking outside the blog thread but in response to this discussion I wrote on the topic.
Recognizing Female DirectorsIncludes a list of my top recommended female directed films as well as a long list of female directed films I am looking forward to catching up with, hopefully in the next year.
A brief outline for forum discussion purposes.
1. Women rock at documentaries (and likely short films) because they have lower barriers to entry.
2. There are a fair few directors who are daughters or husbands of other directors, and many actresses turned directors. Connections matter for everyone of course, but I think they'd matter more for women.
3. Women have had a ton of success in comedy when it comes to box-office, not so much elsewhere.
4. I suspect that male directors are remembered more or advertised more with relation to their films than female directors are. Nora Ephron and Nancy Myers are arguably two of the most successful female directors and they don't have near the popular weight as the major male directors.
5. As many female directed films have been made in the past 10 years as the rest of film history.
P.S. I had seen 10% of the films on the Criticker list. I don't think my rate on a similarly comprehensive list of male films would come anywhere close to that.