I go for A.

B: women are seen as if they are the means: Sounds awkward an unidiomatic.
they are treated would have sounded better here.

I too go for A.Its concise and is able to convey the meaning without any distortion.

yup the answer is A..........i just got confused with the B option, can anyone tell me what is exactly unidiomatic in B and why is B exactly wrong..........is it just because A is more concise or is there any other reason?????

It is more of a usage issue. 'as' is often used to substitute for 'in the capacity of'. So, we say:

Children often see teachers as their role-models.
Soldiers act as custodians to territorial boundaries.

Contrast the above with following:

Children often see teachers as if teachers are role-models.
Soldiers act as if they are custodians to territorial boundaries.

"As if" makes it less real and is confined to things that didn't really happen.

He winked at me, as if to say "Sorry about that."
It looked as if it were going to rain.

thanks a lot jim