One of the biggest lies in our education system is that women were chattel without power, then suffrage happened and the world suddenly changed. The reality is women had power before suffrage, just different kinds of power in different roles, with different responsibilities. Women did sometimes have to takeover the family and homestead, if their husbands died from illness or war. It was expected and not extraordinary, but we like to show it as such in cinema because everyone like a good story.

Also I hate this inception quote post shit, so I'm adding a 5th layer to your matryoshka.