That’s not something unique to women. It applies to all people. It’s an Aristotleian virtuous mean. You don’t want a person to be weak-willed, but you don’t want a person to be domineering either. A happy medium, assertiveness, is ideal.

Be careful not to argue that placing any character expectations on women at all is tantamount to sexism. It’s not.

Character expectation, and the exemplification of virtue, these are not merely mechanisms of patricarchal control. They’re vital civic values that facilitate a civilised society, and they apply to everyone. They’re what compels a man to treat women with due respect. They’re what inhibits us from violence. They’re what allows us to develop trust in fellow citizens.

Such expectations may feel cumbersome and burdensome, but that’s the nature of personal responsibility. Freedom is not absolute. The relative freedom of everyone depends on sensible restrictions upon certain freedoms, the exercise of which damages the interests of everyone.