On one hand it makes sense that medieval european social relations imply, well, medieval european social relations and it makes sense to use your novel (or your show) to examine those.
On the other I can relate to many people wanting to see women in medieval fantasy to be represented in some other way than constant misery porn.
This is a big reason I like Star Trek (though admittedly the original series is pretty sexist, even if it was trail blazing in it's time). Giving us an actual positive vision of a better world seems in short supply today.