Rukia or Orihime are fulfilling the roles of stereotypical passive helpless women when they are captured (although they prove quite capable in many other situations, as you said) and it is left mostly to the active males to save them.

However, what is not mentioned is that even though there is a dearth of female characters in Bleach, many are represented as some of the most independent, powerful and capable characters out of the entire cast.

Not discussing the role of Yoruichi in an article as good as this is a shame. Frequently in the series Yoruichi is depicted as one of the most powerful and wily characters in Bleach.
She is physically capable, has shown to be both wise and knowledgeable and on top of that has many powerful artifacts from her family’s heritage as ’sacred armourers’ to aid Ichigo in the first arc. Whilst Ichigo may have been responsible for the final act of saving Rukia it would have been impossible without Yoruichi’s aid.

The character Nelliel (when in her adult form) is another example. Without her help Ichigo would have been killed by Nnoitra, and unable to continue on his mission to save Orihime. She also had Nnoitra at the brink of defeat much faster than Zaraki did.

Unohana’s position as captain of the healing squad is a cliche. However, her power and the respect and fear other (male) captains have for her is not. In the bleach data book she is ranked as second only to general Yamamoto and Aizen in ability. All this without having to be machoed up to justify her power

There are more, like Hallibel’s fraccion, Hallibel herself, and Tatsuki (in the real world)..but this is a pretty long comment already! I just want to say again that your article is totally spot on with the sexist plotline, and I really enjoyed it, but I felt that the strong female leads throughout bleach were not given enough credit for being good role models to Shonen’s readers.

@Michelle: Nice catch with the comment on the lack of women in the Gotei 13 + the obligatory female healer. There just aren’t any real strong female characters in “Bleach”!