Discuss Shakespeare's potrayal of women in "Othello"?

In Othello, there are 3 women and 3
men, and here's how they match up: Othello - Desdemona (upper-class); Iago - Emilia
(middle-class); Cassio - Bianca (low-class).

The two main
women, Desdemona and Emilia, change substantially during the play.  They are foils of
each other: Desdemona is idealistic and traditional, whereas Emilia is realistic and
jaded.  Both of them are deceived and murdered by their husbands.  Shakespeare seems to
be saying that his society was more sexist than racist.  They are the victims of male
revenge and jealousy.

Desdemona goes from being very vocal
in court and defiant of her father in Act I.  She secretly elopes with a black man,
which would have been scandalous.  Not only that, but she talks the Duke into letting
her accompany her husband to war.  After Act II, she is as submissive and quiet as a
mouse.  She knows she's going to die, and she does not fight or call for help.  In all,
she seems like two different characters: a vixen in Act I, and a passive victim in Acts
II-V.

Emilia changes the other way.  She goes from being
chatty in Act II to openly defiant of her husband in Act V.  Iago is a misogynist who
openly slanders women in Act II ("You rise to play and go to bed
to work”), yet she says nothing.  Only after Desdmona is murdered
does she cry foul.  But, she is the hero of the play, the only one with enough courage
to call men what they really are ("[men] are all but stomachs, and
we all but food; They eat us hungrily, and when they are
full, they belch us.")

Overall, Othello goes from treating
his new bride as a goddess to a whore, all because of an accusation.  This suggests that
women are set up to fail, that they are victims of impossible standards (even
double-standards), that they are play-things, status symbols, toys, and food for
men.

As such, women are afforded no voices.  They cannot
defend themselves, and no male stands up for them.  An outspoken woman was the same as
an unfaithful one, such was the misogyny inherent in the macho culture.  Desdemona's
fallen status as a whore even below Bianca suggests that men may not have loved women at
all, only used them for work and play.