I think the main problem is the great books curriculum is trying to read all the great writings of (western) culture. Women didn't write that many socratic dialouges, plays, histories etc in ancient greece, at least none that we have any trace of. This may be because they weren't written or they weren't preserved through the many chauvanist cultures that literature has had to be preserved through. I think it would be nice if we could find more writings from those periods by women, but i wouldn't want them included because they're by women, but because they're good. i've heard there was some thought to add north african authors, which would be rather cool.

Huh. i thought we read ayn rand, speaking of influential women who wrote.

in summary: for a long time no body wrote besides white men and writing shouldn't be included in the curriculum based on the author, but on the merit of the work.