The entire theory of women being subservant to men is a relative new concept, in the grand scheme of things. It used to be that we Pagans worshipped women...quite literally (yes, I said "we" Pagans, meaning me).
When Cesaer Constantine, the last Pagan Roman Cesaer, put the Bible together (yes again, put together by a Pagan, with certain chapters excluded to make the Christians happy...see the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example), women were demonized by the Church to turn the people against the Pagans. Constantine even converted to Christianity, on his death bed, in order to save his people from the slaughter of the Christian armies en route.
To say we've always had the "power"...that's simply not true.
Bard