Look at Mary Read and Anne Bonny - they certainly didn't sit around waiting for their Man to sort things out for them.

Definitely not. There are some records containing testimonies of their victims - merchants ambushed by the pirates. One of them said that it was only possible to tell the two women from the men, because she could see a faint outline of breasts underneath their shirts. Thomans Dillow added that both women behaved "improperly": they talked loud, they swore profusely and were happy to do all kind of work around the ship.