The fact that most of the neolithic sculptures found in Malta are clearly female, led to the assumption that women had a very important role in society. 

During the final phase of the Neolithic period, 22 major temples were built on Malta and another 6 temples on Gozo. The temple period lasted from about 3800 BC to 2500 BC, ie about 1,000 years. The temples were built by a people, who presumably reached the islands from Sicily from the archipelago about 8,000 to 6,000 years ago.

En-hedu-Ana was revered as the most important religious figure of her day.

She is the first author either gender known by name in human history, because she wrote the first texts that can be attributed to a person. 

She was the high-priestress during the reign of Sargon of Akkad (Sargon the Great). While Sargon of Akkad united Sumer and Akkad and conquered the first empire in history, Enheduanna melded the Sumerian with the Akkadian gods to create the stability the empire needed to thrive.

read here more about ......The Role of Women in Ancient Sumer 

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Puduhepa was a Hittite Queen, a Tawananna - married to King Hattusili III. She has been referred to as "one of the most influential women known from the Ancient Near East."

Queen Puduhepa and King Hatusilli III together with Pharaoh Ramses II, put their seal under the first international peace treaty in human history, between the great powers of Egypt and the Hittites. (Die Hethiter und ihr Reich, Wissenschaftliche Buch Gesellschaft, Germany - Page 71)

What kind of role women had on ancient Thera cannot be said with certainty, since the scripture (Linear A) has not been deciphered, everybody may interpret the images for themselves. Nevertheless the leading role of the illustrated women is undeniable. 

There is some archaeological, seismological, and vulcanological evidence that the myth of Atlantis, described by Plato (Kritias und Timaios) is Thera.

In 1700 or 1600 BCE the probably biggest vulcanic erruption of humanity let one-third of the island sink into the sea. In 1967 Spiridon Marinatos escavated de remains of a well preserved settlement - Akrotiri -  and discover a culture which in technology was centuries ahead of its time.  

The "Minoans" were the first European high culture. The first European throne was found here. They lived among other in a kind of palaces, for example, the palace of Knossos with over 1400 rooms on 3-4 storeys. There was a even a central sewer system, toilets and a type of hot water heating, etc.

 
Their Scripture - Linear A - has not yet been deciphered. Many well-preserved frescoes have been found that give an insight into the culture. Almost all Images are of women. Women in the role of priestesses were in the important social functions.

Hatshepsut  meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty.

According to Egyptologist James Henry Breasted she is also known as "the first great woman in history of whom we are informed."

"Beloved of the god Ptah" c. 2700 BCE

Merit Ptah was an early physician in ancient Egypt. She is most notable for being the first woman known by name in the history of the field of medicine, and possibly the first named woman in all of science as well.

Her picture can be seen on a tomb in the necropolis near the step pyramid of Saqqara. Her son, who was a High Priest, described her as "the Chief Physician."

Co-Regent of upper and lower Egipt together with Echnaton at the time of the biggest revolution in the ancient egypt   1370 BCE – ca. 1330 BCE

Nefertiti  was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshiped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc.

After Akhenaten death,  Nefertiti ruled briefly as Pharaoh Smenkhkare.

Nefertiti (Beauty of Aten, the Beautiful one has come) is best known by the bust in limestone and gypsum, which is exhibited in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.  The name bears the title of Great Royal Wife and mistress of the Two Lands. 

In the grave of Akhenaten she appears as mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt.

After the death of Akhenaten Nefertiti rules as pharao Semenchkare.