Children...protect them all, equally. Teenage years are when the differences emerge and the legitimate double standard exists.
Yes, men have always been in charge. Always will be unless you want to move to a basket case of a country like Sweden where masculinity has all but evaporated.
Sure there WAS the taliban, and thanks to REAL men like GWB and our soldiers, they live in caves only beating their own wives and not the population at large.
Sure there was the Puritans, and thanks to REAL men like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson this country was founded on much more enlightened principles.
So yes, men have been the definers. But men created the mess called radical Islam and men created the Catholic Church, the greatest institution in history. Men created the witch burnings, and men created the Renaissance.
Some men beat their wives and other men beat the shit out those who beat their wives.
Then we'll just agree to disagree on this ;)