When differences exist between the genders, what does the novel suggest are the causes?

In all of Jane Austen's novels whenever a difference comes up
between the genders the causes are almost always associated with the historically social role
that genders would be expected to fulfill.

When males make decisions
in the story you can see how every woman accepts it. Anne was an exception, but the rest of the
females in her family would take Sir Walter's word as law.

When
Wentworth came back he was upset with Anne for her previous rejection and yet she could not
approach him directly to talk it over. It was an act of congress, basically, for a woman to make
a point to a man.

Now, the novel suggests that the reasons for all
this are simple: Those were the rules, the social roles, in Regency England. You could not break
the protocol, nor try to create new rules. This was the simple truth and women were second class
citizens that could have not changed anything.