On Writing Good Female Characters

A while ago I was talking to one of my friends and I told her all about my views on female characters in media but I quickly realized I was preaching to the proverbial choir. And I realized that I wouldn't feel completely satisfied until I put the whole large thing out for the world to see.
This is my thoughts on female characters, and feminine characters both female and male.

First I must define "feminine." I don't define feminine and masculine by interests as I perceive interests as gender neutral (if we get really technical, gender is a social construct but this is the non-technical, simplified version.) So in essence, a character or person can like whatever: videogames, sports, magical girl anime, makeup etc. and that has no impact on whether their overall personality is feminine or masculine to me.
For the sake of this post, feminine is caring, motherly (or parental if the feminine character in question is not female), passionate (both about emotions and about interests), empathetic, calm, and perhaps also creative/imaginative where masculine is stoic, active, practical (rather than creative), action (rather than people) oriented, and perhaps a bit intense. Both have their up-sides and down-sides and neither is "right" or "wrong" for anyone of any gender to be. Now, onto the heart of the matter.

Feminine Female (and Feminine Male) Characters
Because of the way female characters were portrayed in the past; as damsels in distress, love interests, and merely there to look pretty, many writers today like to balance that out by making their female characters super masculine or "different" by making them tomboys. This is perfectly fine. I have no problem with tomboyish female characters. What I do have a problem with is a lack of feminine female characters.
A female character does not have to act masculine to be badass or "strong." In fact, I find it slightly sexist that femininity is not associated with badassery or strength. (but that's another story). There seems to be this notion that if a character is girly (or likes interests that people who are not me would consider girly) she or he is shallow and superficial.
I say a female character can have whatever interests she wants (be they geeky/nerdy, creative, beauty oriented, social, trickstery, outdoorsy, or sporty) and still be considered strong or badass.
Heck, who's to say that she has only one set of interests? Why can't a girl like fashion AND sports? (I sometimes make it a point to dress nicely when I'm going to see an action movie or put on makeup to play video games just to show that you can have a variety.)
Furthermore, a character can be maternal and badass at the same time. (Just look at Ripley and Newt's relationship in Aliens.)
People have this notion that a woman who is feminine is only feminine because societal norms have been pushed on her. I will be the first person to tell you that societal gender norms are stupid, but I will also be the first person to tell you that there's nothing wrong with a woman who likes fashion, just like there's nothing wrong with a man who likes fashion. (I will go over my thoughts on fashion in a later post.)
Finally, people seem to think "strong female character" means a female character with good fighting skills. That's NOT what it means. It means a female character who is written well and not portrayed in a sexist way. Strong characters are well built, three dimensional characters with thoughts and feelings and ideas and mistakes and triumphs. A character that can take care of her/himself and is not afraid to be her/himself. It doesn't matter if they are a masculine woman or a feminine woman, a masculine male or a feminine male. That is my criteria for strong, well written characters.

TLDR: Gender norms suck. A lot of people misrepresent femininity and I want feminine female and male characters to be more well written in the future.