It is an old book, and in the most of fantasy old books are most likely more men than women, I would say that Tolkien actually took more women into the story than some other writers. As we can see in the lord of the rings, Galadriel is the strongest elf in Middle-Earth, and that´s a big thing. Also Arwen is powerful because of her love to Aragorn, even though she chose the fate of Luthien.

Four words: It’s an old book

Well, the thing is that we can’t look at Tolkien’s works with a modern, 21st century view, as we live in a time that has made much more progress in terms of gender/sex than during Tolkien’s time, and it would be a bit unfair to judge his work with our modern values and understanding. I think we need to keep in mind that these books were written in a time where fantasy seemed to be dominated by male characters (with the exception of the tropes of the damsel in distress, or the evil witch) who did everything and saved the day every time, so Tolkien’s take would’ve been pretty normal. There are elements of it that were progressive for the time as others have mentioned, I think we should focus on that instead of judging it based on our modern outlook.

I'm pretty sure he said somewhere that he wasn't good at writing female characters, so he generally avoided them.

One name: Eowyn, or Galadriel, or Varda,.or Luthien.....

@ARoyalPrincess, I've thought a lot about this question myself since I've been asked it more than once. Although there is a lack of female characters in Tolkien's legendarium, I believe that what he lacks in quantity he more than makes up for in quality. More importantly than how many women there are story is how women are portrayed. Tolkien's ladies are strong, beautiful, powerful and intelligent. Varda, Elwing, Lúthien, Arwen, Galadriel and Éowyn are a few examples. Luthien is one of Tolkien's most impressive characters and did just as much if not more than Beren in the Quest for the Silmaril. It was a Éowyn the Shieldmaiden who defeated the Witch-king and Galadriel is one of the oldest and most powerful characters in LOTR. As a matter of fact there are hardly any ladies who are evil or unadmirable in Tolkien's works (excepting Shelob 😊). I personally see no lack in his portrayal of women and would much rather prefer one of his well-written inspiring female characters to five women added just for the sake of having more women. I enjoy hearing all your thoughts on this!

@Logan Flanagan The idea of female Viking warriors is highly debated. There is no evidence that it was widespread. It seems for now that female Vikings were rare, with women from that culture taking care of domestic issues while the men went raiding.

Of course that only reinforces the notion that Tolkien fairly represented women in his writing.

I know. The point is that the world was different back then.

Also, women generally weren’t involved in wars back then.