中國女主政治的發展，自西漢呂雉臨朝以來，歷經漢末王政君、東漢、北魏母后干政，迄唐朝武則天、中宗韋皇后止，其人數之多與發展之盛，可謂女主政治的蓬勃階段。然而，此一女人當家的風潮，卻於北周時期嘎然而止，究其原因，大致可歸納為女主發展為北周統治者所限、外戚勢力的薄弱、皇后或太后自身能力有限、無冲齡皇帝登基等四因素。其一，自西魏時，宇文泰掌權，髮妻對於宇文泰在政治上的協助，遠遠不如高歡元配婁氏；北周立國後，權力又落於宇文護之手，皇帝無置喙餘地，遑論太后；之後的宇文邕、宇文贇父子，前者雄才大略，後者恐怖統治，統治手段雖異，但均阻礙了女主政治的發展。其二，北周不乏強有力的外戚，如前期的獨孤信與末期的楊堅，但身處於宇文護、宇文贇統治時期，無法成為女主發展的助力。其三，據《周書》載，北周眾后妃當中，曾參與政權者，僅宇文邕母叱奴太后與楊堅女、宇文贇后楊麗華，前者參與誅除宇文護行動、後者於宇文贇崩逝後安排人事佈局，但叱奴太后在誅除行動中僅為配角，聽任親生兒子宇文邕的安排；楊麗華的人事佈局，也是在鄭譯等人的安排下，代為公諸於眾而已，更何況，當發現父親楊堅企圖改朝換代，自身也莫可奈何。其四，北周唯一稱得上冲齡登基者乃靜帝宇文闡，然而時局已為楊堅等人所左右，不論楊麗華、或其生母朱滿月，均無法逆轉潮流。因此，中國女主政治的發展，在北周時期暫時中斷，但卻非結束，直至唐朝，出現空前絕後的女皇帝，使女主政治更上層樓。
The Chinese empress politics were often witnessed from the Western Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty. However, seldom did the empress involve in the political management in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. There are four factors leading to such a sudden break of the empress politic. The first, in the earlier half of the North Dynasty the emperors didn't get the real power and thus the empresses were hard to share or usurp the power. The second, under the powerful prime minister, the other family members of the empress couldn't share his authority. The third, the empresses in Northern Zhou did not have the enough political abilities. The final one, the emperors of Northern Zhou were adults, and they tended to obstruct woman's political control. Therefore, the development of Chinese empress politics interrupted temporarily in the Northern Zhou Dynasty time.
