What do you think about Tolkien’s lack of female characters?

I was reading the post of another admin here and I realized that they were right in that there are NO FEMALE CHARACTERS in The Hobbit. While before this moment I was completely against the new character Tauriel, I now can accept that Peter Jackson made a necessary decision. I don’t COMPLETELY agree with it, but… I do see the need for a female character. Not that there was anything wrong with The Hobbit without females in it! So what do you think? Do you agree that the movies need a girl to balance all of the males, or do you think that Peter Jackson should have stayed true to the book?