One of the most striking things about the Vikings series is the portrayal of women as independent contributors to the culture and the raids. The female characters don't feel subject to their male counterparts, and this is mostly true.
Also, it is true that women who had been widowed or divorced had greater freedom to determine their sexual and marital relationships than women in other parts of early medieval Europe. This was almost completely unheard of in the Middle Ages when women were viewed as property. Remember when Lagertha publicly divorces Ragnar and then later decides when and whom she should marry? Completely true.
Women did fight alongside the men, but recent reports suggesting that 50 percent of Viking warriors were women is slightly overinflated.
