Garth’s comment > Likes and Comments

No, he did not grow up in a world in which women were not considered legally persons. He grew up in the early twentieth century, not the middle of the nineteenth century. Indeed, I'm not sure that was ever the case in America: women always counted as persons, in that they were taxed and they counted toward state representation allocations. By the time Asimov came to the US, women were allowed to vote in all the states.

Just to emphasise this point: in world war 2, 800,000 women served in the Russian military, including roles as pilots, snipers and tank crew members (wiki).
The idea of equality was around for Asimov to see, think and write about. In Foundation he didn't.

But to counter that point: didn't he? Just off the top of my head:
(view spoiler)[ - Hari Seldon developed psychohistory inspired by his relationship with a intelligent and agency-full woman (who was actually a robot sent to educate him).
- Seldon came up with psychohistory during a conspiracy crisis where a woman attempted a military coup to take over the galaxy
- Seldon's daughter had magic powers and created the organisation that ruled the galaxy for centuries, albeit in secret
- The Foundations' threatening neighbours turn out to be ultimately ruled not by the blustering warlord but by his wife
- one of the stories has a husband and wife team as protagonists. In the end, it's the wife who both realises the solution to the problem and takes decisive (murderous) action
- their granddaughter is the heroine of another of the stories
- the Second Foundation ends up magically controlled by a female enchantress
- the galaxy is later apparently ruled (and one potential outcome is that it will really be ruled) by a woman, who is somewhat cold but famed for her competence and efficiency
- the galaxy is in fact ruled by a gestalt hive consciousness, who choose a woman (or, at least, a female robot enchantress) as their representative
(hide spoiler)]
It's certainly fair to say that the stories tend to be male-dominated. You could also probably have some questions about how healthy and feminist his thinking really was - why, for instance, are so many of his women secretly mind-controlling robots? - but I really don't think that you can say that he didn't think about or write about equality.

The lack of women in some of his stories was the result of omission, not the result of any belief about the inferiority of women or their inability to fulfill any particular roles (he write women who are powerful, sensible, dashing, violent, etc, just like the men)

The other Foundation books (and some of his other fiction) are certainly better in this respect. I think when Asimov put his mind to it, he could imagine women having a different place in the world.
Women are a pretty big omission in Foundation, and I'd say that is a flaw in Asimov and his writing. Fortunately it's a flaw that is balanced by the fact his ideas and view of the world changed (improved, to my mind).