Yes, but how does the show depict males? I am not impressed by messages that women are independent and intelligent and strong. In 2015 this is not bold or new or revolutionary. Depicting females as equally capable as males is great; simply depicting females as awesome is just chauvinism.
I don't know, but I assume it's fair. Since it's still ostensibly a "girl franchise" at least superficially, I guess the main characters are all girls?
The one episode that caught my eye while making my kids Saturday morning pancakes was some sort of scam-artist ponies came into town, with red-striped barber shop quartet jackets, and 1910 straw flat-brimmed hats, and whatever they were selling, they did a song that was a 100% shameless rip-off of the first part of "The Music Man" when he's in scam-artist mode and gets the whole town singing the "Trouble" number.
That's when I realized the Bronies were telling the truth about all the "hidden subtext" in the show. I still won't touch the subculture with a 10 foot pole, but I don't beat them up anymore.