Happy International Women's Day!
Women were downgraded and made submissive in the rise of the patriarchies because men feared us.
A lot still do.
That is certainly one way to look at it.
@Gwendolyn2018 There is an evolutionary aspect as well, which is irrelevant these days but probably led to the formation of gender roles in early hunter/gatherer societies. Other primates behave similarly. (Which is not an excuse for the state of things once we grew to a more advanced society.)