Renae,
You've opened an interesting topic! I know you don't mean to imply that women are nurturing and men are violent... or that these basic ID tags carry over into our art.
I recommend
"Daybook, the Journey of an Artist" by Anne Truitt (whose painted-plywood sculpture you might categorize as violent). Cynthia probably has it in the bookstore on this site.
On a personal scale, while I yearn to paint beautiful figurative work, I do not dismiss modern or abstract art. It seems the better we understand the abstract design of nature, the better we are able to render the figurative.
I was born in 1967, and in this country and in my lifetime, I do not come across serious gender issues.
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, like so many museums, depends on patrons. Soliciting your gift (of membership) is important to their survival. I think artists who have the means to do so are obliged to give back to the art community, not by giving money to every cause, but by giving back in whatever way is purposeful.