Honestly, that whole patriarchy, "women should be silent" thing was such a trigger to me. Mostly because it was chauvinism masquerading as religion. I could understand patriarchy by itself as historic result of gender roles and division of labor, or men not wanting to give power up, but using God as an excuse makes me want to bitch slap those priests or just punch them in the nuts.
Though it's no surprise the author went there, as it was mentioned several times that she had to be careful of her reputation and make connections in noble society to guard against herself being made an outcast. Her authority would be compromised if people thought she was immoral in the eyes of society.
There's lots of strong female characters in this story, but they all have to work within the system of their so called place in society. So it's very period accurate. Just annoying to me at times.
