לֹּא עָשַׂני אִשָּׁה…שֶׁעָשַׂנִי כִּרְצוֹנוֹ – The Tanna Rabbi Meir instituted the recital of the ברכוֹת השחר. In Rabbi Meir’s time the study of Torah was prohibited by the Romans, who executed any man who studied it since they recognized that Torah study kept Jews from assimilating. Women on the other hand were generally spared by the Romans but were instead taken into captivity. Through instituting this blessing, Rabbi Meir expressed gratitude to God for being a man and therefore having the privilege to sanctify God’s name in death. The blessing of שׁעשׁני כרצוֹנוֹ was introduced by women in the Middle Ages, because during the Crusades men and women were massacred alike. Women now shared in the privilege of dying al kiddush Hashem, sanctifying His Name, and therefore instituted their own blessing.
(R. Isaiah Wohlgemuth, Guide to Jewish Prayer, pp. 59-60 in the addendum to the Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik Siddur. It is not clear if this is being said in the name of Rabbi Soloveitchik)