CAUSE OF GENDER EQUALITY IN DORNE: MY THEORY

Again, this is my hypothesis on the Dornish national character and egalitarian worldview: why Dornish women and children are more free from patriarchal norms and restraint than any of their counterparts north of the Marches.

In history, the major shifts from gender role rigidity to free love and self-expression values (Hellenism, 18th-century courtly promiscuity, the 1960s sexual revolution) happen to take place always after great armed conflicts. And I connect the Dornish culture of free love to these findings.
Should we read Harm de Blij's The Power of Place, Chapter 7 "Same Place, Different Destinies," we would get a detailed overview of the causes of the gender mortality gap/gender ratio (male:female mortality ratio) in real-life Western demography (that is, why females tend to live for longer time).

Historically, Dorne has always been a warzone: wars have been fought by Dorne against the Stormlands, the Reach, and the Crown. And even Dornish-on-Dornish feuds. For freshwater, for territorial expansion vs. independence...
The history of how the realm was unified by the Rhoynar refugees led by Nymeria when she promised her aid to Mors Martell in defeating other lords in their anarchic struggle for freshwater sources pretty much sums up the whole history that would come thereafter: crossing of national and foreign influences, freshwater a commodity during hard times, and of course a catalyst for warfare. What's more, Nymeria outlived a husband killed in action and is still revered by the Dornish as "mother of the nation" (giving her as much cred as Isabella the Catholic, who also unified realms and co-ruled with her husband), in spite of being a female foreigner.

As we have stated before, the history of Dorne is a history of war, and war tends to decimate any adult male population, the more armed conflict the more prominently. Nymeria was neither the first nor the only Dornishwoman to outlive her husband. Yet what may strike the reader is the fact that Dornishwomen can also be warriors and fight or lead armies on the battlefield.

Again, "Same Place, Different Destinies" holds the key. It states that males are more prone to risk-taking habits (substance abuse, reckless driving...) than females, which may have a biological source (hormonal). On the battlefield, during wartime, this is true in general as well, and thus, the equal-opportunity Dornish military, in times of conflict, will surely display a greater female ratio because of this risk-taking.

So: Warfare empowers minorities (women, children, foreigners...) and encourages self-expression values by decimating the adult male national elite of any system (This is the most positive thing I can say about armed conflict). The history of Dorne is, basically, a history of warfare. Hence: the Dornish culture's emphasis on self-expression values can be explained by the consequences of armed conflict and risk-taking influenced by testosterone, which stress the male:female mortality ratio and lead to female empowerment.