The following paragraph is from an article about an American fantasy television series.
What does “I'm standing on the shoulders of women who spilt metaphorical blood to get to this point,” the second sentence from the bottom, mean?

Galadriel actor Morfydd Clark, who broke out in 2019 with His Dark Materials and the indie film Saint Maud, casts a skeptical eye on complaints about her character. The Galadriel we meet in Jackson's films, played by Cate Blanchett, is a serene elder stateswoman nearing retirement, but Clark's version is more youthful and stubborn. Clark, 32, who speaks with a Welsh lilt and bears a striking resemblance to Blanchett, wants to explore how Galadriel evolves as she ages—and center that journey in what's been a male-dominated story. “I didn't read the books and think, ‘I wish there were more female characters,’ because I just took it as given that that was the way things were,” she says. “I'm standing on the shoulders of women who spilt metaphorical blood to get to this point. I hope young people, should they watch this, will think, ‘This is just the way things are.’”