Erik you wrote;

"What grew into a male dominated society in ancient times was due to the natural strength of males. As women were put into a role of subordination, a silent response grew."

Is that really true? or a rationalisation?

There is a suggestion that earlier societies were much more altruistic in nature. The concept of the superior physical strength of the male gender is only useful for tasks that require strength as an attribute, building, farming tasks etc.

If that is all it was then we would still be living in grass huts and roaming the prairies.

It is I believe it was the development our intellectual abilities that took us from the plains to the cities that we have today.

Nobody today would say that women were submissive, not if they were being truthful and even a few centuries ago there is evidence that women were not the compliant gender that modern concepts portray them to be. To extrapolate, it is not something that just happen in this day and age, but had always been a part of society since the dawn of time.