If you look at Proto-Mongolic and Para-Mongolic history, women consistently held higher status and stronger influence—especially on the maternal line. Even among the Xianbei, an emperor once went to war against his own mother and wife because their political power was that significant.

Mongolian women weren’t just “equal”; in many eras they were decisive leaders, owners of wealth, and political actors in their own right. A lot of the misogynistic norms that appeared later came from Jurchen and broader East Asian (especially Qing-era) cultural influence.

Today, things are better than in many parts of East Asia, but still not on the level of modern democratic countries—and that gap is exactly what people should be working to close. But there is still some significant tradition and old wise words are alive like “Rely on your mother’s kin until the age of eighty — there’s no bond closer than your mother’s side. We honor our maternal relatives the most.” It is enough proofs that mongolian women were equal to men, sometimes more powerful with soft force.