As a long term filthy casual who barely mods, I just want to add my voice to the pile.
It made a cool side of Warband that I could jump through the hoops to build an almost entirely Sword Sister cavalry. (The end goal, of course, being a cavalry charge of 100+ with Ride of the Valkyrie playing.) Likewise, I enjoyed that female companions/warlords were rarer to find and would expend extra effort to obtain them for my Kingdom - likewise, the only time I didn't found my own Kingdom is when I helped the Queen over throw Swadia.
The way it is now is "fine". Like, it's "OK", but it's devoid of the feelings of Warband. It fills me with "meh" when I think about it. Like bland oatmeal kinda meh. "Yeah, it's food, and yeah, I was hungry... but still..."
Ideally, on the subject of women in Bannerlord, I'd love to see;
- Female specific warrior tree(s) (one for each kingdom? Noble/commoner? Regardless, should not be easy to get)
- A Reduction in female Warlords on the field to start with (Make them rarer, thus more desirable)
- An increase in their perceived struggle (In Warband, you could really see the whole "Tools for marriage" side of things.)
- Additional quests to aid in their struggles (If she is being married unwillingly [for example], and your relationship is high, flag a quest for help)
- Ability to convince a Noble woman to become a Warlord (should be easier if you're a female PC)
- More violent/war like Maidens of the battlefield. (Some of them seem like they are just there for the Tea)
- Make stay at home wives more useful (Maybe this is just me, but they don't -do- anything beside baby making yet, do they? If they do, disregard!)
If I had to not give up on one thing, it'd be the female troop lines. But only if the pose a challenge - I have no interest in just being given female warriors.