+1 to @
cyccomute
In my personal experience weight does matter, specially when you're doing a long commute. You get bored easily having to push a tank for too long.
I went through a couple bikes before my current road bike that still feels perfect for my 15kms commute. I had a dutch style bike like one that was suggested earlier in the thread and it was a tank, heavy and an agony to push up hills, I wouldn't recommend that to the OP unless she was riding only a few miles in flat roads.
I currently commute on a gravel bike with 27mm tires. MUCH BETTER. Even though it's steel (chromoly) it feels lighter than my previous bikes. I have no problems with panniers or toe overlap with my tiny feet.
The other bike was a 26" aluminum hardtail MTB which was OK for commuting after I fitted 1.5" tires on it, but still felt a tad too heavy for longer rides.
I'm 5' tall, 29" inseam and size 5 feet. I have a couple inches more than OP, but I know the struggle is real specially because I didn't have much options available locally to start with, which is why I ended up going custom for my gravel bike.