What is the role of women in Oedipus Rex?

In Sophocles' Oedipus, there are only three
women in the play, two of which (Antingone and Ismene) are only bit players.  Antigone's role is
to escort her blind father at the end as he exiles himself from the city.  She and her sister are
mainly in a support role.

Only Jocasta is a major character.  As
such, she is a:

Mother-figure: to
Oedipus and Creon.  She urges the two to reconcile their differences in the motherly tones of a
matriarch.

Queen: she is above the
citizens in the play.  She stands on a higher platform than them literally.  While they suffer
from the plague, she is in a position of health and opulence (until the
end)

Supplient: She thinks she is
better than she really is.  At the end, she provides vision of unmitigated suffering and
helplessness.  She kills herself rather than live with the guilt of infanticide and
incest.

Blocker of Fate: She attempts
to protect and shield the royal family from fate's cruelty by being a non-believer in it and the
the gods.

Foil: she is a reflection of
Oedipus.  She parallels Oedipus' discovery of his past.  Her realization precedes his.  She
commits suicide, while he blinds himself.

Anti-tragic
hero: Whereas her suicide is a symbol of weakness and refusal to suffer and know
the truth, Oedipus only blinds himself, taking all the sins of the family upon himself
(suffering, guilt, truth).  As such, he is the tragic hero, and she is
not.