You're a genius and my new hero. OF COURSE if women had been seen as equal to men back then they would've had a bigger hand in science and math and philosophy, etc...And the ones who did, would've gotten the credit they deserved. Women had then, and have now plenty to contribute to those subjects and if we had been allowed to all along, I really think we would've been better off.
And I think religion is to blame for that.
Having visited a few of those very countries on business, I can assure you: unless you're connected to the powerful, or wealthy, your rights as a citizen, male or female, are mostly non-existent. Either sex that steps over a very well-defined line will be guest of the government's finest accommodations, as long as you like concrete-gray and steel. I don't believe in oppression of either sex, but using those countries as an example are like comparing medieval Germany to contemporary Sweden.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.