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Firstly, let's talk about -gress:
- congress: 1528, from L. congressus "a meeting, hostile encounter," pp. of congredi "meet with, fight with," from com- "together" + gradi "to walk," from gradus "a step".
- progress:1432, "a going on, action of walking forward," from O.Fr. progres, from L. progressus. Figurative sense of "growth, development, advancement to higher stages" is from 1603. The verb is attested from c.1590 in the lit. sense, 1610 in the fig. sense.
The prefixes, in this case, aren't attached to the same word, reason why their meaning is completely different. As for female, the history behind this word is really interesting:
- male: 1373, from O.Fr. masle (Fr. mâle), from L. masculus "masculine, male" (cf. Prov. mascle, Sp. macho, It. maschio), dim. of mas (gen. maris) "male person or animal, male."
- female: c.1315, from O.Fr. femelle, from M.L. femella "a female," from L. femella "young female, girl," dim. of femina "woman" (see feminine). Sense extended in V.L. from humans to female of other animals. Spelling alt. late 14c. on mistaken parallel of male.
So, the fe- in female didn't really stand for anything, even though it now gives the impression that it turns a masculine word (male) into feminine. That happens quite frequently in language.
Anyway, if you want to know more about etymology in general, etymonline is a great resource 
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