When I saw your starter post, I assumed you were a man, and was prepared to react to that...
Fact is... "weaker sex" has lately become an aggressive lever... used to further gender stereotyping in favor of women and has been used to my experience as a put-down to men.
I've seen women being put on a pedestal lately in a very solid way... and not for personal achievement as a person. It seems akin to the "racist" approach. Women have always been a balanced part of the human species. They have minds which function differently than men, and bodies which DEFINITELY work differently. The assumption that that puts them at a disadvantage is what has gotten them the old term "weaker sex", and that term has crucified men who had nothing to do with its coining or usage. The idea that the genders are different but functionally equal is what has led me to comfortably assess my own mind and body to determine myself "feminine" and if granted, female. To the original poster, statuswise, you may have found yourself facing a biased world where you are correct.... I live there myself, though "there" may be miles apart... it's a world where power is gained by those same feelings of inferiority. Whether you are man or woman, OP, you are empowering those around you to BECOME influentially superior... you and those who live around you. Power in humanity is not tangible or measurable... it's imagined... it is felt... emoted.... In modern society, you are only as powerful as the masses around you permit. Personal success may never gain you what is necessary (like employment) due to there being a very large movement to shift power at the expense of countless individuals... an idealistic movement that is costing humanity its structural stability.