Why are women so threatening?

What bothered me the most about all the readings on gender inequality was the focus on how women are put down. I feel that the majority of gender inequality is focused on women and relinquishing their rights and power. My main question is WHY? Why are women the subject of this inequality? Why have men MADE themselves the power holders? Although in some cultures, like Hindu cultures, women are celebrated as powerful and wonderful beings. Not to say that all men view women as something lesser than themselves, but the majority appear to feel that way and will only give women enough power to make the women happier but not enough to surpass themselves.

It is true that women and men both have their strengths but honestly, why make the women stay at home? What made men want women to be powerless?  I would have to do a lot of research in order to find out the reason behind the suppression of woman's power but if I was to make a hypothesis, I would say that there were religious reasons behind it. I know that most ancient cultures prized women over men, especially in pagan religions, and to combat the "inferior" religions monotheistic faiths suppressed the power of women in order to get more men followers and to get men to over power the women and convince them to relinquish the power they held.

BUT that is just a hypothesis.