The show does focus on it's female characters, for the most part... screentime wise that is. That doesn't necessarily apply to side characters, where both male and female characters tend to receive relatively equal focus in that regard. The big thing is that most of the primary protagonists are female, and this show is very much focused on it's main characters. Either way, while the show focuses on female characters more, it has never portrayed one gender as superior or dominant in their society. The show's scope is limited, and it focuses on female characters, but it's not portraying a gender-imbalanced society/world.



Anyway, yes, the current alicorns are female. That makes their government technically matriarchal under one of the definitions, at the top levels anyway. HOWEVER, there is no reason to believe that gender is relevant to who can ascend, as it's a matter of merit and capability and such like that, genitals has no relevance there. Starswirl for example came pretty close to becoming an alicorn, but he didn't manage because he didn't understand friendship, which Celestia actually explained. Another example is Sunset Shimmer, if you want to count the comics, as it said that she also failed because she became too power-hungry or something along those lines. Either way, I'm quite sure that either gender can become an alicorn, so while the current alicorns are princesses, an alicorn prince would be equally possible too. It would be exceptionally nonsensical and more than a little insulting to rule out or deny someone based on their gender if they qualified, and the current alicorns are there because they are great, benevolent leaders, not because of their genitals, so there's simply no reason for there to be a gender-bias there.



I don't see the alicorns gender discouraging anybody. Again, I don't think anyone would give any second thoughts to the alicorns gender as long as it was made clear that gender does not in fact play a part in who can become one. And there are only four of them, so it's not like they are in every walk of life in the first place. There are plenty of successful ponies of both genders in the show, and there's simply no indication that anyone is being advantaged or discriminated against because of their gender. We've seen male and female business/shop owners, celebrities, bureaucrats, socially influential characters, and more, along with just a generally positive portrayal of both genders altogether. There's plenty to encourage both genders that they can succeed if they want, and do what they want in life in general.



As far as the play, and pre-founding Equestria? I don't know much about that. I do know that rewriting someones gender would be extremely insulting and totally unlikely, so given that, and that inconsistencies between the show and other official mediums are the norm, I'd suggest you just pick one or the other. Nobody is being rewritten for something like that, that much I can assure you. I do know however that it's not particularly odd for someone to play someone of another gender in a play, and the "her" could be understood as being referring to the person playing the character and not the character itself in that context. I'm going to continue to say that Hurricane is a stallion, and that he is remembered as such, because I don't think the ponies would be so awfully disrespectful as to change something like that, nor do they have a reason to.



As for Big Mac, I think it's pretty clear that it was a joke. It originated in the fandom as a joke, based on Big Mac's mannerisms, and it came into the show as a joke, because it was clearly meant to be comedic rather than serious. The Sailor Moon-esque transformation cements that further. Again though, it should be clear that either gender could ascend into alicornhood, and to suggest otherwise would be to suggest that they'd be so incompetent as to deny or rule out someone based on their genitals, which is absurd. Your comment of "a princess is indeed more powerful than any stallion could ever be" is nonsensical and highly offensive, and I see no reason to assume that either gender is advantaged in potential there. If a mare becomes an alicorn, she's an alicorn princess, if a stallion becomes and alicorn, he's an alicorn prince. And if you really insist on taking something serious from Big Mac's imagination there, you could always headcanon that it's just Big Mac himself who is comfortable with what you'd traditionally consider feminine. Saying that his imagination has any bearing on anything beyond himself would be extremely anecdotal.



And the Sisterhooves-Social? There must also be a Brotherhooves Social. For that matter, there must also be an event for brother/sister pairs to compete. Three events is damn clunky, but to suggest someone would have neglected those two ideas until this time would be just downright silly. Brother/brother pairs and brother/sister pairs would surely have some way to compete, so I'll just have to say that there must be other events. It's not as though that would be unreasonable, the show's scope is ultimately very limited, as as far as foals go, the story tend to focus on Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, who are all female. It seems likely that we are simply seeing things from their perspective and therefore we only learn of the existence of the sister/sister events, because they also... wait for it... have sisters!



Anyway, yeah, Equestria is a very nice place. Benevolent, friendship, love, and other things like that held in very high regard and are very important, among other things... A good standard of living with things like modern medical care, etc. I will however say that matriarchies and patriarchies are equivalent/equally bad, and are bigoted by their very nature, there is simply no way around that. Equestria is, again, quite clearly not a matriarchal or patriarchal society however. The current alicorns are female, but that doesn't make it matriarchal anymore than the queen of England makes the UK matriarchal, which is to say it isn't. The gender of the head(s) of state is irrelevant, unless there is a bias against one gender in reaching that position, but it would make zero sense for such a bias to exist in Equestria. Shining Armor could quite obviously become an alicorn prince and have the same authority and responsibilities as the other alicorns, it's just that such a position isn't inherited just because he's royalty, he would have to achieve something and have certain characteristics that make him an excellent, benevolent leader. I'm sure he's a great leader already, given his career before becoming prince-consort, but yeah. Bottom line is that alicorns ascend based on their merit/capability and stuff like that. Genitals do not play a part, to argue otherwise would be to suggest something quite offensive



But yeah, I'm holding my position that Equestria is gender-egalitarian, and that there is no indication that one gender is being portrayed as advantaged, superior, dominant, or anything of that sort. Equestria clearly has gender-equality, and is not a matriarchy or patriarchy. The current alicorns being female does not suggest a bias or anything of that nature, especially when two of them are immortal and such. The only two we know to have ascended in recent times are Twilight and Cadance, and given that the ascended alicorns have been stated to be non-immortal, there's no telling how many others before them have possibly existed. Maybe they are the first, but if they really aren't immortal like Celestia and Luna, you never know. Bottom line is that the show is female character focused, but it's not portraying one gender as superior or anything, nor is it portraying a fictional society where females are advantaged or dominant or something like that



Back to Rainbow Dash? I'm still quite sure she was referring to his situation and not just saying that because of his gender. He was a huge stallion wearing a dress in a casual event for sisters, of course she will think he's disadvantaged because of that. And yes, if Zecora came to the sisterhooves social and someone said something like that, it would be racist, but Zecora is female like you'd expect in the Sisterhooves Social, and would not be wearing a dress and high heels. There would be nothing unusual about her being there or her circumstances while being there, unlike Big Macintosh who clearly had special circumstances that put him at a disadvantage (even if it wasn't enough to stop him). Either way, again, I can assure you that Dash is the last pony to be sexist. If she didn't say that because of his outfit and other circumstances, then she said it either because she felt her chances of winning with Scootaloo were threatened by the presence of the one who's likely the strongest pony in Ponyville, or maybe just because she was feeling competitive like usual