Greetings Gentlemen (and any ladies who subsequently post to this thread)
I am of an opposing opinion for the most part. That is not to say I'm promoting the ridiculous idea that more men and less women would be a good idea, just opposing the idea that women no longer need men and would be better off without us/them. I'll get to history last and take on the Science first. I am specifically referring to the observation that in virtually all higher lifeforms that evolved sexual reproduction, the egg-bearing female is most often the one who chooses the successful mate.
There is a revolutionary bombshell in Darwin's "Origin of Species" and especially in "Descent of Man" that was so distasteful to the sensibilities of Victorian gentlemen, the largest percentage of readership at the time, that it got buried until the 20th Century and that is the implications of Natural Selection that women choose just what kinds of men's genes get passed on to offspring. Here is an example of a feminist scientist, postdoc Griet Vandermassen writing in a publication for Ghent University for Sage Publications on the subject outlining exactly that from both a science and feminist point of view. It's not long and worth the read.
http://www.evoyage.com/Evolutionary Feminism/SexualSelection.htm
Even in societies where women were oppressed, there still existed strong and powerful women with a sense of independence who well understood how to play sexual politics. Greek, Spartan, and Roman women of higher classes had a considerable degree of autonomy as well as freedom of sexual proclivity. That such existed in some segments of Ancient Egypt implies that among civilized societies of great variety such autonomy was apparently natural. The vastly greater block of time of pre-history (and remember Cleopatra is closer to us in time than she was to the earliest Pharoahs by over one thousand years) including as much as a half million years of our near ancestors on the grasslands in small tribes where very member counted and was valued, lends credence to just how massive an effect on human history women's power of choice has made.
It is extremely important to note that even if women had multiple partners, by force or choice, women are actually hardwired for choice since women only have orgasms with men they like a lot and female orgasm has been found to result in the cervix dipping into the pool of semen increasing the odds that an unforced coupling with a desirable male had higher odds of resulting in pregnancy and possibly even the likelihood of survival of any offspring. (See Google or Desmond Morris's "The Human Animal" and his amazing films of this occurring.)
eg:
Fertility Boosting Tactics - Why The Female Orgasm Is Your Best Friend
Some studies have shown that women are more likely to choose nurturing men during the "ordinary" parts of the menstrual cycle but are more disposed to physically and socially powerful men during ovulation. Since humans are one of the few mammals in constant estris, this creates a wider range of types of males whose genes survive to the next generation, improving odds for the entire species.
I contend that now more than ever, when mere physical prowess is not necessarily consistent with social prowess, economic power, loyalty and very likely a nurturing nature (a man willing to invest time and resources into children) and this is at least beginning to be incorporated into sexual attractiveness, we may be on the verge of a tipping point, where raw aggression is no longer sufficient, and maybe someday even, necessary. So if there was ever a time for the male side of the gene pool to be diverse, I think it is from now on.
As for history, have you gents ever read about such figures as Catherine the Great or Boudica? Or, have you ever heard "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? While it may be for slightly different reasons and in lower percentages of occurrence, women are most certainly capable of extreme violence and it seems apparent that it is women's proclivities for men of violence that has at the very least added to the continuation of "the breed".
Don't mess too much with Nature, guys. It's doing pretty OK on it's own, now that Geek is Good.
