>>45177
The root of the problem is Tolkien's Victorian views on women and sexuality which repulsed by the notion that sensual desires exist, the flesh demands love. He can and does depict deep relationships based on friendship and camaraderie between men in LotR, but all in that mountain of words, there is no mention that any kind of relations are had between men and women. This is the reason why the homoerotic nature of the book (and the movies) are mentioned sometimes, it's even made fun of in Clerks 2.
I heard Silmarillion is better in this question. But that is a collection of mythology, and every IRL parallel of that, all the mythologies of our Earth are chokefull of women, sex, and frankly sexual deviancies as well. So there was no possible way he could avoid women.

Oh shoot, I forgot that healer woman I think by the end of the book. She tends the wounded. Her role is to be the butt of japes made by the chivalrous Aragorn and the sage Gandalf, when she did not hear about a healing herb which only blooms liek every 500 years once and only the True King (Aragorn) can use it for miraculous healing.
Okay that's liek 6 named women. From 150+ (moar liek 160+) named characters.