How are women depicted in the Aeneid? What is their effect on politics?

Aeneid is a Roman epic poem written by the Roman poet Virgil presumably between 29 and 19 BC under the command of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It is separated into twelve books: the first six books of the poem tell the story of the misadventures of the Greco-Roman Trojan hero, Aeneas, who, after the fallout of the Trojan War, went to Italy and founded Rome; the second half of the poem tells the story of the Trojans as they take over Italy from the natives and settle in Latium. Aeneid is written in a similar style and narrative to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and it is considered one of the most important Latin poems in world’s history and literature.
Throughout his journey, Aeneas encounters many women—both human and divine. Virgil writes of the women’s position in the society similarly to his contemporary fellow writers and poets: he presents their role and participation in the social and political climate of the Roman Empire through the eyes of the men. There are no multidimensional and well-balanced female characters in the poem; many of the women are either too masculine, which means they are undesirable and unappealing (such as the maiden warrior Camilla), or too feminine and therefore too sensitive, vulnerable, and emotionally unstable (such as the Goddesses Juno, Venus, and Minerva).
Their main individual and collective “role” is, apparently, to “annoy” Aeneas and make his life more difficult. The one exception seems to be the Queen of Carthage, Dido, who falls in love in Aeneas because of Juno and Venus and suffers great amounts of emotional pain as a result. However, she too loses her ability to rationalize and lets her emotions determine her actions.
At the same time, Virgil sort of pushes this hidden feminist narrative. While it is true that most of the female characters in Aeneid are weak and, more often than not, irrational, we must not forget that the majority of these women are also in social and political positions which are traditionally held by men. For instance, Dido is a strong and powerful leader, and her sister tries to convince her to marry Aeneas not just for love but for political benefit as well; Camilla is a mighty, fearless, and capable female warrior who leads her army to join forces with Turnus’s army and defeat Aeneas.

Besides all these there came from the Volscian nation CamillaLeading a cavalry army, squadrons petalled with bronze;A warrior maid, her woman's hands unaccustomed to womanlyTasks—to the distaff, the basket of wool; a girl, but hardyTo face the horrors of battle and to catch up with the winds.

To conclude, the women in Aeneid might not play the most important roles in the narrative, as one would expect from books and poems of classical antiquity, but they undoubtedly influence and affect Aeneas’s decisions. Thus, it is safe to assume that Virgil writes of the evolving role of women in the socio-economic and geopolitical environment of the Ancient Roman society. In comparison to the portrayal of women in other literary works of the time, Virgil provides a much better characterization of his female characters, giving them a little more value and importance.