About The Women In Series Like These....

No. You want my answer? "No". A woman like Hope Lang, an Angel; an innocent Angel attacked by crazed thugs like Daniel Goldbloom (Hee Hee) we want someone like a plain clothes Wonder Woman to materialize and save the day. Huh?!? I get your point, but no way! This movie is a man and a gun. Simple. I call em "Man and a Gun" Movies. God I love em!! Die Hard, Taken, Non-Stop...Bring em on! A Man and a Gun. All woman can sit back or Go Shopping. John

There are plenty of films about Nazi's, psychos, even gunslingers with NO violence towards women in them. Even from the 70's. There's just as many great films with strong female characters. Rare thing to come by in the 70's, but look at Alien for example. Through the 80's and 90's it became a popular choice.
This film just isn't one of those. Don't watch it if you hate it so much, and feel free to talk *beep* about it, but I honestly don't understand what you are trying to achieve with your post. You expect this film to be destroyed and then erased from people's memory?

In the second one his love interest lives and in the third it's a male friend's death that motivates him. That's as far as I am in the series so far and while it doesn't treat it's women very well at all, the men don't seem to get much better treatment.

This particular series is about a man going around killing evil men to avenge his loved ones but there are plenty of movies like this with female protagonists. Revenge movies are a genre and in order for them to work, the hero or their loved ones have to suffer first. I think it was called the Brave One but Jodie Foster did a movie just like this. Criminals killed her husband so she goes around killing thugs with a gun.

But for the record, I would have really liked it if there was a strongly written female cop or something who got to live and play an important role somewhere in this series but clearly this particular series didn't have that much respect for women. They never even consider that the vigilante might be a woman even though all the killings are just shootings for example.

Thats the way it was back then.

Kramer: ...he was very impressed with what I do.
Elaine: What you do? You don't do anything!

There are some: The Brave One (2007), with Jodie Foster, similar premise, and Eye For An Eye (1996) with Sally Field - quite different story but pushes all the same buttons.
I also thought that Jill Ireland's character in Death Wish II wasn't weak, she just had a different view of violence, capital punishment, and ultimately her boyfriend's (Bronson) vigilante actions.
Then there's the Sondra Locke character in Sudden Impact (1983), in which Locke gets raped-as-usual in every Eastwood film, but certainly is no slouch in getting revenge.

Take that feminist hot air on down the road! This is a man's film. If you don't like or approve...simple: don't watch....

It is pretty accurate, most women who go through such a ordeal don't become psycho vigilantes. The tramadic event of rape scars for decades.

The depiction of women as 'weak willed' in modern film is almost non-existent today. Studios conduct pre release exit questionnaires and find that this characteristic does not appeal to movie goers (offends some women).

That does not mean it doesn't happen in real life though.

It is the same reason you don't see overweight people in movies.

Damn, congratulations to everyone patient enough to read this entire post because I honestly couldn't get through the first paragraph.