The idea of need as to what a person wears depends on the wearer. What I prefer for self-expression, may not be with in your taste to own or be associated with and visa versa as to your preferences to mine. Questions such as this come from people who don't understand the stewardship of individuality that nature provides to everyone. It hasn't help to achieve a better understanding about individuality when society thinks it knows more about the things a person is and then dictates its will to make it so. Each person has their own perspectives, opinions, tastes, desires, talents, experiences, and appearances. The act of society trying to control what it determines we should desire, falls under the definitions of bullying and enslavement. There were many good things that happened for humanity from the thinking of those during the Age of Enlightenment, but it didn't restore an individual's right to make their own decisions as to what that person could wear. Even in the so-called nations of freedom, people are forced to comply with the social norms if they want to live with out ridicule and being assaulted for exhibiting non-stereotypical behaviors and appearances.
So, do I think women need to wear heels, anymore? Well! What classifies the wearing of heels as a need? Certainly, for the most part wearing them isn't a matter of life or death. In a few professions, heels have been part of the dress code or they are understood requirements depending on a person's sex and job assignment. Like it or not, by choosing the job, the choice makes wearing heels necessary. All the other venues to wear heels are subject to personal choice and discretion. So, if a person has the desire, taste, ability, and the heels, it's their decision as to the necessity.