Purely from a fashion perspective I have to say the following.
Those women have been dead forever so today's world has no idea of that past. Today's women have not had the boundaries men have had. It's a bad conclusion to think that women have really had it that rough, that's a feminist cop out. Women have been more than equal in fashion. In the 80's and 90's it was illegal to tell a woman what to wear in the work place. Anything went, even flip flops. Men, shirt and tie, no exceptions.