I bumped this after reading a character bio of a Barovian woman.
Arlette wrote earlier in this thread:
"Barovia isn't a particularly sexist society. Poor Barovians don't have traditional nuclear family situations where the man goes out and works and the woman stays at home with the children. Every member of the family works, including any child who's capable of doing so. You have to remember that even in the real world, nuclear familiies only really came along after the industrial revolution. Before that, businesses were cottage industries and whole families would labour together at their particular trade. For the poor, life is hard work period. Men don't dominate women -- consider them equally oppressed and overworked .
As for nobility, keep in mind that there are no schools in Barovia, meaning that unless the children are sent abroad to study, they are educated a little at home and then likely married or brought into the family business, if there is one. Also, keep in mind that nobles don't have much in Barovia's current state. Almost all have lost their land to Strahd. Outside of towns, the best they can hope for is to be able to manage their former ancestral lands. However, these days few boyars, or landholders, are drawn from the old noble familiies. Inside towns, they cling to what is left of their family fortunes, perhaps trying to augment that with mercantile businesses and the like. They are a decaying group, clinging to the former power of their ancestors. Basically, nobles will be more concerned with holding on to what they have and augmenting it, than they would rigidly enforcing sexual roles among their children.
Women have held positions of power in Barovia. One of the major cities in Barovia, Teufeldorf, is run by a woman. Rebeka Ditrau, Captain of the Guard, rules in the place of a burgomaster. So she not only attained a high rank in a military organization, she has also been given command of a town. The Burgomaster of the Villlage of Barovia, Vanda Atanasius, is female. Females can hold prominent positions in the clergy. The Cult of the Morninglord has a highly respected priestess in Krezk named Elizabeta Pirosska. Females hold prominent positions in some of the secret societies in Barovia as well.
Basically, I guess I'm saying don't let a late 19th/early 20th century view of female roles cloud the possibilities for female characters in this setting. While there may be sexist individuals, there is no overriding rigid code in place for female peasants and nobles, aside from the same rigid limitations that affect the males as well."