Never managed to find biking trousers to fit... leather or otherwise... blokes are a slightly better fit though, so I'll join you in the cross-dressing corner
Except the legs are about 3' too long
I have to agree with your opinion regarding quality of kit... although I do think it's gradually changing.
The fastest growing biking sector seems to be female riders, so hopefully the kit improvements will continue. I guess that in the past, female riders have been too small a minority and the manufacturers just cater for the market... basically for occasional riders and pillions... with many of the girlies wanting fashion over function?