If it was broadly unacceptable to advocate that women should be socially equal, we'd have online mobs chasing down people who dared to suggest that. The current flavour of acceptable thought may change over time; the problem isn't the flavour, it's the mobs.
Political correctness is just a fancy way of saying: "You can't say that because <I> find it offensive!".
The mob isn't the problem, letting them run free is.
/pəˈlidəkəl kəˈrek(t)nəs/
noun
the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes,
of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude,
marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially
disadvantaged or discriminated against.
Every culture has things that must not be said (whether true or not), and they certainly don't have to be offensive. To say them is not politically correct. PC is part of culture.