Claire explicitly faces misogynist death threats, scrutiny over her emotions, and challenges from male power brokers like the Shepherd siblings; she responds by feigning a public breakdown to exploit stereotypes of female hysteria, lecturing military advisors on sexism during a Syria crisis, and installing an all-female cabinet while breaking the fourth wall to declare she will 'take no prisoners.' Showrunners Frank Pugliese and Melissa James Gibson described this as Claire 'weaponizing' assumptions about women in power and subverting the patriarchy, tying directly into post-#MeToo timing. These elements drive character arcs, subplots like the cabinet reveal in Chapter 70, and Claire's clashes with figures such as Mark Usher and Annette Shepherd, elevating gender as a primary conflict alongside traditional power machinations.

The season explores women advancing at the expense of other women and critiques instrumentalized feminism, but the core remains cynical political intrigue rather than pure identity politics. Reception highlighted the feminist pivot as both timely and divisive, with some critics noting it as heavy-handed or posturing.