Why didn't the women push back more generally on societal roles and positions given them?

I always find it surprising that women took so long to stand up for themselves. This was the Spanish Inquisition and Women didn't get the right to vote in most places until more recent history. I found the description of what women were not allowed to do shocking. What stood in their way during the novel's era? And why did women so easily accept their role? Even to the extent of not being able to leave their homes.

I think that's a really good question, smallino! I think part of it had to do with Christianity. The church at the time taught that women had very specific roles, and those that stepped outside those roles were greeted with suspicion (if not outright hostility). That made it easier to keep women dependent; most weren't permitted to earn their own incomes. Then, as now, no money = no power.

Was it for security, as women were pretty defenseless; or was it control? My "bully" theory about men dominating women. Bigger, louder, pushier. Still true today, certainly in the board room.

Fear of death, abandonment, gossip, being an outcast, "witchery", and every other insecurity women carry.

So many reasons - but I think a lot of it comes down to fear. There were so many disadvantages for women and on top of that, add the religious persecution and it was just very hard for women to get any kind of respect or position.

Possible fear of death????? Being put out on the street as a beggar. Women had no rights and the men made sure it stayed that way out of fear.

They are women who live in a society controlled by men who have God on their side. Still, the women do find ways and the courage to push back as they can.

At the beginning of the story, Luzia asks Santangel, "Who has more power in a house than the woman who stirs the soup and makes the bread and scrubs the floors, who fills the footwarmers with hot coals, and arranges your letters and nurses your children?"
"These were the ways women entered the body, through the kitchen, through the nursery, their hands in your bed, your clothes, your hair. There was a danger in such trust, and a wise man learned to respect the women who tended his home and heirs."

Luzia sees Valentina's "lonely vigil at her window, waiting for a husband who is barely a husband" and she pities her. Trapping Luzia into revealing her magic changed Valentina's fortune. It hadn't just happened - she had done it. At the end of the story, Valentina extracts herself from that pitiful marriage. She tells Marius, "When we wed, I was a foolish girl who hoped to love you. I grew into a foolish woman who wanted to please you. And now, well, I suppose I'm still a foolish woman who only hopes to be rid of you. Go away, Marius." She invites Quiteria Escarcega and her artist friends to stay with her and she is finally able to live the life she has longed for.

Luiza has used her small magic as a scullion, but given the opportunity, is willing to develop it in more powerful ways because "she was tired of hiding, of her trembling turnip's life." In the end she is brave enough and clever enough to make her magic powerful enough to provide freedom for Santangel and herself.

Through a series of degrading activities and careful analysis of the political situation, Hualit has transformed herself into Calama de Castro de Oro. She tells Luzia, "...leave the game to me. . . I can play with the best of them." But she soon realizes she was wrong, and Victor is sending her away because he fears she could be questioned about his activities. He says he is sending her to Venice for safety but has her killed on the way.

Even with their fear of the tactics of the Inquisition and the corrupt political leaders of the time, Bardugo's women do push back with the means that they find available.