Gender Authority in Pride and Prejudice

As I was reading Claudia L. Johnson's critical essay, "Pride and Prejudice and The Pursuit of Happiness", I started wondering what Austen was saying about social class structure as it refers to gender in "Pride and Prejudice".  Specifically, I wondered if it had been Lord De Bourgh who had forbidden the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth instead of Lady Catherine, would Darcy have buckled and refused to marry Lizzie?  Lady Catherine was shown throughout the novel to be a pompous blowhard with little sense and few save for Mr. Collins had any regard for her edicts.  However, since we do not know much about her husband, I wondered if anyone else had read this article and postulated the same?