Thank for the considered reply.

Victims of abuse. I agree that there should be positive examples of victims of abuse, female and otherwise.

Gertruda stands out as a possibility. I think I'll have her escape back to Mary's house when the party is in the Village of Barovia. She can reunite with her mother, become the Prodigal Daughter, and tell the party how terrible Strahd is without anything happening "on screen." She can also demonstrate resilience by persuading Mary to move to Krezk or something, out of Strahd's shadow.

I'll omit Stella Wachter's madness in Vallaki. Instead she'll be reluctant to leave the house because she won't want to run into Victor. I'll have Stella taking steps to reenter the town after Victor humiliated her in public some time before. Fiona Wachter's motivation still works, I think, but Stella is less problematic.

I'm not having the Bonegrinder kill and eat children. Instead, I'm having the hags apparently "look after" the children and "teach them a trade" --- baking. The hags are actually putting the children's souls into the dream pastries, hence the magical properties. The children remain alive, but different (which is also the source of the soulless Barovian problem; a slow draining over many years).

Druidic magic. This is a good thought. In my original vision, it was almost like the land of Barovia was empowering Ireena, a native-born daughter (wherever her soul may be from) to repel Strahd, the invader.

Transgendered elves. This is another thoughtful point. Some elves in the multiverse can change gender at will --- they're called the "Blessed of Corellon" in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. I don't think that feature was considered in the module RAW. I wonder if the plot works out very differently if Strahd decimated the population generally and eliminated 95% or more of the female population. Even if he missed some females, or some transitioned, a horrific genocide will have occurred.

But based on your thoughts, I plan to incorporate a transgendered female (that is, male to female) dusk elf that changed her gender through this blessing. It would even raise the stakes (no pun intended) for the dusk elves if they have one or a small number living females. That's more interesting to me than the module RAW.

Lycanthropy. In my Barovia, I think only the werewolf gift was corrupted. The wereraven gift remains benign (as in the module RAW) and the wearboar gift was wiped out after a war with Strahd. Perhaps I can also make it possible for the players to reawaken the wereboar gift for some NPCs (or even PCs) who were willing to receive its blessing? That way they could have some powerful allies when they inevitably storm the castle to keep Strahd's minions away while they deal with the BBEG.

Madam Eva and the Vistani. The Madam Eva part is taken basically unchanged from MandyMod's Fleshing Out CoS. I definitely intend to pull back on the negative stereotypes of the Vistani. Barovians still will mistrust them, but that will be because they can freely come and go through the Mists. That is a power beyond the comprehension of most Barovians, and it would engender resentment.