Well, like Mad Men, the world is terribly sexist, but this is where our opinions diverge, because I hardly think the female characters on both shows "bend over and take it". Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice And Fire in particular has some especially strong female characters. I don't know if you've read the books, but Cersei is many things (power hungry, amoral, twisted), but weak and passive is hardly one of them. Arya is a strong character from the outset, and even more stereotypically feminine and submissive characters like Sansa are taken in interesting directions.