I think your viewpoint is based on a deeply flawed public school version of history. History in public schools has always been a kind of modernist liberal propaganda. The reality is that it has never been in the best interest of anyone to have "nastiness between the sexes" and even many societies where we would deem women to be mistreated actually have a much more complex and nuanced set of attitudes than we realize. Our viewpoint is frequently more based upon shock from a few extreme aspects of their culture than reality.

For instance, when you go to Cafe Turko, a halal Turkish restaurant, in Fremont, Seattle, Washington, run by a very traditional muslim family that obviously comes from a very Wahhabi muslim background (e.g. the people famous for putting women in hijabs, punishing rape victims, et cetera), their great breakfast platter is called "the Mother-In-Law breakfast". Their men are TERRIFIED of their mother-in-laws and go to ridiculous extremes to make them happy.