Islam critiqued shocked by this backwardness; Islam forbids female leadership?

In answer to the video "Quran and the Queen of Sheba"

The story of the Muslim Queen in the times of Solomon proves that the Quran doesnt condemn or prevent women leadership of the highest degree. This Queen's case is that of a monarchy, meaning most probably not elected by her people but made to inherit the throne. It does not represent a pervasive mindset of a nation that normalizes the placing of women as heads of state, as per the report of the prophet, who, upon hearing that the Persians had appointed Chosroe’s daughter as ruler said

"No people who appoint a woman as their leader will ever prosper".

Recent scholars argue that this speaks of a specific time and nation, the Persian contemporaries of the prophet. Abu Bakra narrated the report during the Battle of the Camel, where Aisha was in command of the army which included illustrious companions of the Prophet. None of them objected to her being in command. As in the Queen of Sheba's case, Aisha's case did not represent a normalized trend in the society of nominating women as leaders. Even the narrator Abu Bakra did not desert her which should have been the case had he and other companions noticed that she contradicted a prophetic instruction. The Sassanide empire collapsed soon after that narration was reported, and the Muslims conquered it, leading scholars to treat this as a prophecy. 

In the prophet's time, a successful nation was one that had a steady population growth and enough resources to maintain it. This is the unavoidable reality of our wordly system even nowadays. Only a healthy family base with enough children to safeguard demographic renewal, coupled with a secure and sustainable income allows a nation to thrive in the long run. No matter which way one turns it, this is only possible with a woman fully dedicated to her household and a man fully committed to sustaining it. Both functions are equally important. If any of these 2 pillars is compromised, then the system stagnates and deteriorates. 

This, again, is an observable reality today accross the "developed" world, where these once rich nations are essentially dying out in the long term. Men are seeking wealth following destructive economic models and women have disengaged from the family and childbearing function. Society becomes incapable of assigning fully committed gender adapted roles so as to safeguard its own long term prosperity. 

As already noted, this phenomenon has to spread on a large scale for it to compromise the functioning of a healthy society. It isnt speaking of marginal cases whose imbalanced family model can be absorbed by the larger body of the society. Rather it points to a deeply ingrained, general mindset hence the words

"No PEOPLE WHO APPOINT a woman as their leader will ever prosper".

That is why we find in the history of Islam and since the earliest days, Muslim leaders, not the general population, appointing women to leadership positions like judges or police, even military. In brief and as demonstrated, Islam certainly allows female leadership but it cannot be a general, normalized phenomenon or else it would mean that the society has accepted to compromise the gender specific functions that allow it to prosper in the long term.