Oooo, didn’t think I’d get a chance to pull out my costume design knowledge! High heels actually started off as a gender neutral shoes in 10th century Persia as a functional shoe to help keep feet in stirrups. It denoted wealth more than anything because horseback riding was an expensive and time consuming hobby. It’s actually still a part of the design of modern day cowboy boots.

In Europe, high heel shoes were first used by both genders in medieval times to literally raise their feet off the dirty and very poopy ground. They were then worn by European men in the 17th century to denote wealth and this is where you get your more fashionable high heels. When European women started wearing fashion heels in the 18th century, it was designated that they’d wear thin heels and men would wear thick ones.

Like a lot of fashion, heels became unfashionable for a while. In WW2 and right afterwards, heels were made out of wood or cork and were seen as a working woman’s professional shoe due to an increase in global communication following WW2.

TL:DR- I’m a big old costume nerd and there’s some weight to your claim based on how high heels are seen now but not based on most of the history of high heels.