Can anyone talk about the gender issues in A Midsummer Night's Dream?I feel Shakespeare is sympathetic towards women.

I have a feeling you are right to. Of course, to my mind
the two characters that clearly Shakespeare wishes us to have sympathy for are Helena
and Hermia in the various plights that face them. It is often said that a Shakespearian
comedy is actually very close to a Shakespearian tragedy, and if we examine what occurs
in Act I scene 1 we can definitely see this. Note the strong language that Egeus uses
when talking to Theseus about his daughter and his "right" to "dispose" of her as he
wants to:

Be
it so she will not here before Your Grace

Consent to marry
with Demetrius,

I beg the ancient privilege of
Athens:

As she is mine, I may dispose of
her,

Which shall be either to this
gentleman

Or to her death, according to our
law

Immediately provided in that
case.

It is important to
realise that women were regarded as property of men. They are obviously not equal to
men, as this speech shows. Egeus demands the right to pick who Hermia will marry,
regardless of Hermia's own feelings. Although Theseus modifies the choice she must make
to seclusion in a convent for her life or giving in to her father's wishes, it is still
a grim choice that shows male superiority.

With Helena, we
feel sorry for her by the way that as a woman she is abused by Demetrius, whom she
loves. Note what Lysander says about Demetrius in Act I scene 1 and his relations with
Helena:

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Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his
head,

Made love to Nedar's daughter,
Helena,

And won her soul; and she, sweet lady,
dotes,

Devoutly dotes, dotes in
idolatry,

Upon this spotted and inconstant
man.

Demetrius is shown to
have won Helena's "soul" and then to have cast her off in his pursuit of Hermia. When we
see Helena, it is hard not to sympathise with her in her plight. She is still
desperately "doting" after Demetrius, but he has no time for her. This suggests that
women are viewed as discardable objects by the men of this play, as is shown when both
Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with Helena and Hermia has to realise what Helena
has experienced.

Thus both characters, Helena and Hermia,
suggest the inequalities of being a woman in a man's world in this play. It is clear
that their gender alone renders them powerless in a world where men hold all the
power.