It actually works both ways. Mainstream religions have almost blanket coverage on people, so given that concepts like human rights and women's human rights and equal rights are alien to most people, many times justice at least till some extent can be served to women via the language of religions only. This is the reason behind most women being so freaking religious, they want to protect themselves and their women relatives, friends from the violence and manipulation by strictly sticking to some "rules" of the religion (like wear marital signs and marry early and abide by the one man (husband) and your religion and culture would let you be safe and protected from the sexual exploitation from random bad men). Religions bring orders in chaos, and women need peace and order to operate and to keep their children and old family members safe; so historically you would always see women to be the first ones to take shelter under any new religion. But then almost all the mainstream religions are patriarchal, as our cultures are patriarchal for the last 10,000 years, so powerful men (and their kin women) from various social strata have molded the religions into the patriarchal way, and now when the concept of human rights is spreading in the era of mass media, global connectivity and social media; many women (and men) have better and more humane options for safety and security, like civil law and order, human rights upheld by the constitutions of the country till different extents, universal human rights etc., so now, the religious control is almost entirely a dark thing with no positive impact and lots of negative impacts if not kept into one's personal space but imposed on others. And I sincerely hope the idea of human rights and equal rights for all keeps on spreading and all the bad laws or cultural norms keep on getting recognized, condemned and abolished. But currently, the global uprise of right wing politics and extremism are huge challenges against these, often trying to take us or actually taking us dangerously backwards.