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Yeah, I don't really think that the average woman was any worse off than the average man, considering that the latter had to go do the dangerous work. Women worked their butts off too but at least not in places like the battlefield. If you say women were tied down by and sometimes lost their lives in the course of child-bearing, you need to remember that men died in war and accidents quite often as well. Before the rulers, both genders were equally oppressed.
The real difference was in who could have political power, and who could be educated. Women sometimes had political power but they were the exception. The ladies of the upper classes also had education, though I suspect it was certainly in a very limited fashion compared to that allowed to men. The point, however, is that it was probably not some clear-cut "women cannot learn" sort of thing but more "women are needed as wives to continue the family and so don't have time to waste on knowledge they will never use". I recall OTOH a painting of some European princess discussing math with a philosopher, so at least some of them received education.
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