since the closest thing to physical combat women did was act as mascots like Joan of arc
We have historical and mythological warrior womans from all era's of war(ancient to modern)
We're already making shit up to justify female physical warriors so why not make them look good too? Of course we can justify anything in universe with magic, but that also means we don't need to be slaved to real world constraints elsewhere either. Make armor hot again!
the thing between them and modern ones is that the modern ones see war, fighting and sex in a warped way.
Joan of Arc was a warrior woman not because she was a strong woman who can own man, because she believed everyone should put their lives to save the country of god and innocents.
She is similar to Eowny in lotr. Eowyn is a shieldmaiden, but she does not want to be one. In the movies she is a girlboss who is trained and know his stuff and takes joy in it. In the books she sees her place as a healer and a nurturer, but she cannot do it because there is a darkness grows in her heart. She believes nothing can grow in a time such as this, she believes she needs to fight the darkness outside to purge the one within. She fights with depression and hopelessness. She achives victory and the first thing she does is putting the sword down, having some kids and be a good wife. Because healing and nurtiring is far noble as a deed and when it can be done, it must be done.
Other than that you are pretty wrong by saying woman neve fought. Woman fought, but it was never the jobs of woman to actually fought.
> woman fought when all the man were away and their cities were besieged.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Hatchet#:~:text=The Order of the Hatchet,, in Catalonia (Spain).&text=This order was founded during,site of Tortosa against Muslims.
> Woman fought when their hubands were imprisonned/ killed and their families honor was tarnished (Boudica, Teuta, Philippa, Matilda, Jean de Clisson etc)
> Or become a general/ warrior because of their stasus. When you are rich+ important enough, you are no longer need to work on fields or make bread or cook a meal, so you can chase some other things.(most of the people above+ Emilia Plater or the likes of them that actually serve in military in more than one way)
The thing with all examples above is they are an exeption.
>we have 100's of knighted woman but they were not a product of the system, they are the products of a conflict, therefore they were bringed to the occasion by a change of status quo.
>we have woman nobles created by a conflict( Husband is killed/ imprisonned/ far away, and i need to step up) and by the system (i am a noble in a society, i have been educated by the system and my role is not the same as some peasant woman. i know history, rules etc and my daddy is the general and my nephew has the biggest army and only i can use them to protect these lands effectively as they lack the connections i have).
>we have woman that just were rich and popular so they just wanted to serve and got what they wanted, and were competent in their work (Plater). but even those were exceptions because while the system can allow a noble woman to be a general/ warrior, it cannot allow all noble woman to be so because system also designed roles to the noble females even if their ubringing and weath gave them a big differance against other females.
The thing is a woman can be a good general, officer etc even with all the minuses they have. we might look at things from a cold pragmatic and logical way, societies built on not just rationale, but by personal connections, wills etc as well. the main problem with an all woman army or womans en masse involved with fights is not compatable for a productive society.
kill 10 man but no woman. even if 1 man survives, people can reproduce. kill all woman but 1 and you have a failing society.
The question therefore should not be can a woman overcome a man, or be a good general or be a good soldier etc. but it should be can a society like that thrive, under which conditiıons.
Edit:
@Ishtar beat me to the main point lol.