Plus I would question if women were oppressed in the past or chose to take a secondary role so men would do the hard work.
Building of the Brooklyn bridge always comes to mind. Great Discovery channel episode on bridges. Supposedly they dug these huge post holes through the bedrock of the hudson river to pour the concrete for the supports. They built huge wooden domes that they sank into the water. Men, for minimum wage, crawled into these domes daily to dig in quicksand, mud and rock. They even blasted under there. If the pumps stopped for even a second, the river would flood in and kill them all. And they had no concept of the bends.
Now compare that to their wives who sat at home, maybe babysat if the kids weren't at school, did some laundry, gabbed with neighbors, cooked dinner.
Now who was oppressed?