This is actually a pretty interesting question, and I would encourage people to look beyond the obvious 'Herp derp, Periods' standpoint. Now I'm sure I'll be in danger of being flamed if I don't categorise what I'm about to say.
I am by no means suggesting that women have it easy, the menstrual cycle, the menopause, childbirth and the unfair treatment of women in the workplace is an abomination and we should all, male and female, work to eradicate gender inequality.
However, to quote Elrond of Rivendell, "The time of Men is at an end." Yes I am quite aware that he was referring to the race, not the sex, but the point remains. As each gender slowly but surely becomes informed that the other might not be completely beyond hope, Men will find that the comfortable top-spot they have held for the best part of all human history might not be quite as secure as once they thought. Men will cease to be the 'superior' sex and will instead be one of two equal sexes.
The men of history were strong, courageous, tenacious and had an unbreakable will to survive despite the odds. We were the hunters, the soldiers, the craftsmen and the half-progenitors of our people and this made us superior. But as the world moves away from barbarism, toward a future geared far more toward the power of the brain, Women will be the superior gender, and Men will be at risk of a dizzying reversal of roles.
And, to be perfectly honest, that sucks, really it does. The only thing worse than having power, wealth, independence, respect and fair treatment withheld, is losing them when they were previously thought so safe. When Britain lost its Empire, the world shook. Slavery and the ill-treatment of the native populations of British colonies notwithstanding, all the fat socialites, all those who had grown wealthy and corrupt on the backs of honest folk found themselves not only broke, but also hated for their part in the atrocities perpetrated by their collective motherland. Call it justice if you will, but think on this.
If women, through their increasing influence on society, their vital role in the human experience, do come to be treated wholly equally to men, then we as a race tread upon a very narrow precipice. We must strive, not only for gender equality, but for lasting gender equality. That will mark an enormous step in human evolution, the ability to avoid the ever-swinging pendulum of discrimination and become socially balanced. If not, then we are in danger of a dystopian future, and alien world where husbands are forced to wait on their wives day and night. And as appealing as that may sound to many women, it will prove, once and for all, that both genders are in-fact equally capable of tyranny, and that women are no better nor worse than men.
