Going back a few pages to characters: While for art, it is obviously a good idea to have preset genders, I think when we're handing out characters, our list should look more like this:
Dwarven Axeman
Elvish Archer
Elvish Brawler
Dwarven Cleric
Human Cleric
Human Mage
Human Fighter
Human Thief
Dwarven Thief
As a player might really want to play a Dwarven thief, but that samesaid player doesn't want to play a woman, or a player might really want to play an Elvish Brawler, but really doesn't want to play a man.
And instead of giving players detailed full backgrounds, perhaps we give them a few recommendations (much like the D&D 4e books do).
If we feel we really need to, perhaps having some premade characters on hand might be handy--but in those cases, generally a player will want a fully statted up character, in which case I would recommend strongly that we leave that up to the DM to do.