So in the more mainstream of the religious movements that were fighting for prominence in this environment like merely Presbyterianism leadership roles in the religious sphere were still very much male dominated.

But there were a number of movements that significantly increased the role of women in their own churches, notable one of them that ended up being the most long lasting of these and notable was the Quakers. While the Quakers were influenced by earlier groups that got started during the civil wars themselves they got their start during the Protectorate. Their teaching was particularly popular with women and their ranks included a number of prominent female leaders.

Mary Howgill for example famously confronted Cromwell to deliver him a scathing letter on the behalf of the Quakers and denounced and debated a little with him. Later in life she'd work as a pamphleteer for the Quakers. Mary Fisher, likewise travelled as one of the first Quakers to visit the Americas headed to Jamaica, then to New England then planned a trip to Jerusalem but along the way instead stopped and managed to get an audience to attempt to convert Sultan Mehmet IV of the Ottomans.

Of their predecessors in the actual civil war period i think a third Mary, Mary Springett would be one of the more notable. She was one of the seekers who again proclaimed a pretty egalitarian ideals as a branch of the idea described collectively as the radical reformation though which Alec Ryrie describes as religion-less Christianity in that it largely denounced all certainty of doctrine. Or that it could truly be known what the will of god was in terms of how things like prayer and baptism could be carried out was since the death of the last of Apostles. Mary Springett was one of the major leaders within this broad school of thought and would later go on to write a notable biography of this time. I believe she also ended up becoming a quaker to but i'm not familiar with anything she might have done during that period of her life.

In terms of the political and religious environments while the vast majority of the levellers and diggers who's political beliefs in egalitarianism along economic and democratic lines as opposed to gender equality. This religious backing is particular true of certain off shoots such as the diggers. While the majority of these even among the more radical arms of the levellers only ever called for universal male suffrage there were at least a few that began the to talk about the inclusion in women in political representation on the national scale more, though these forward thinkers were only ever in a fairly small minority.

IN a practical sense for some women the religious upheaval ended up being pretty dreadful considering the panic surrounding it gave rise to the career of Matthew Hopkins, the infamous "Witchfinder General", upon whom the largest witch hunt panic in English history was centred. While his victims weren't exclusively women the majority of his around 100 victims were. While localised to a few towns and the surrounding villages the impact within that is obviously pretty serious considering the average number of executions for witch craft was about one a year for the entire country.

I expect another thing to look into might be how the changes in how tithes worked under the protectorate might have effected women in social positions like being elderly widows and the like. Its a particular question that I have not so far found any good paper on myself yet.