Re: my own reading, I do read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, which is dominated by male authors. However, there are a lot of great women writing in those fields as well, and a lot of my more mainstream reading is evenly divided between male and female authors. The current book and the last several I've read are by men, but the next few I plan to read are all by women. (I'm moderating the fantasy panel for a local literary festival next year, and all of the authors I've gotten for it are female as well! And the SF and graphic novel panels I helped plan are pretty evenly split between the genders, which is awesome.)

I agree with a lot of Picoult's and Weiner's, and Anne R. Allen's above me, points. Fiction by women does seem like it has to work harder to "prove" itself, and seem more disposable in the long run; the ones that become classics seem to much more often be written by men. Without pulling up any actual data to back up my perceptions, it seems that women will read more authors of both genders, but fewer men frequently read books by women unless they've become huge sellers.

I wonder if today Muriel Spark wouldn't be dismissed as "chick lit" because she employed so much irony and humor. And Evelyn Waugh certainly wrote some funny books. I doubt a female Waugh living today would ever be taken seriously. They'd slap on a pink cover and a cartoon girl in a flapper dress–if any agent would even take it on. Smart, funny books by women are pretty much considered toxic, aren't they?

If a reader of literary fiction is not reading many women writers, they're doing it deliberately. And missing some great writing.