[Barrin92]

>but its a large leap to claim that means they ran it

I don't think it is, not just women in particular but also bureaucrats and diplomats in general is what actually ran and does still run empires and nations. Today you'd call it the administrative state. Both historically as well as today people vastly overstate the importance of visible leaders and vastly underestimate the role that administrators, managers, and so on play.

[uncletaco]

I think Robert Moses is a good modern example of an unelected bureacrat who accumulated lots of power and used it in pretty sinister ways when he all but ran New York City.