It's not about checking things off a list. It's about having more diverse narratives in the games we play.
But it's not changing the original direction of the game. It's a new Mass Effect series separate from Shepard. Why can't the canon protagonist be female this time around? It's a brand new story
I think the title might be misleading a few people. It might help to read through the whole piece if you haven't yet. Default female protagonist is whose on the cover. But of course, you still get to choose when you go in--that's classic Mass Effect. But male Shep is default protagonist for the original trilogy even though you can choose to play as FemShep, just to clear things up a bit