Tell me about the women in your world!

[mythusmage]

Depends on the species. Even among members of the genus Homo it can vary. Of the human species the most male dominated are ogres. Male ogres tend to be around 50% larger than females at least, and this physical domination extends to social situations as well.

The most gender equal of the human species are the gnomes. There is a slight sexual dimorphism in this species, but to a very slight degree. As a result gnomes tend to the greatest degree of monogamy and social equality.

Of the non-humans the halflings tend to a human pattern of gender dominance, while the kobolds in contrast have an effectively female dominated society. That is, the leader of a koblod troop is always a male, but the troop females will take action to dispose of a leader they don't like.

(The story goes that during The World War a human female (political prisoner) met a kobold female (undesirable) in a French concentration camp. The two got to talking, and the kobold learned much of the nature of General Henri Petain, Protector of France. When she had learned enough the kobold silenced the human and asked, "If you knew what sort of man he was, why didn't you kill the son of a bitch?")

 

[Turanil]

In my games I rarely care to think about women's station as compared to men. They are there and probably treated equally. Sometimes though, I like to portray a sexist villain, it makes him all the more despicable. Otherwise, female warriors tend to be the exception (because it requires muscle, and warriors are naturally less aggressive and bloodthirsty than men, despite being able to be as much evil as them), but there are plenty of them as spellcasters. I like the idea of a female arch-wizard, as inspired by Galadriel.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC Orcs are Matriarchal with males forced out at an early age to form ageband mobs that survive by raiding and scavenging (hence the reason they come into conflict with other races so often). Reporduction amongst Orcs is achieve by ritualised rape (hence the reason they rape other race females too) Females are larger and more intelligent than males who are in everyway inferior to females and are not allowed to settle down anywhere (unless they find a BBEG to protect them)

My gnomes are eusocial (hive-like) with a female brood queen and her attendant 'mates' (usually 1 -4 of them) it is her Mates who govern a Gnome burrow on behalf of the Brood mother

Dwarfs have gender equality because as all dwarfs have beards they are all treated as males

Elfs - who cares

My core human society is generally male dominated (most Chiefs are male) but as it is a geriarchy (rule of the elders) and women tend to outlive men the 'real power' behind the throne tends to be 'the grandmothers'.

Other human groups I vary according to whim

Significant female NPCs include Nafanua - a half-abberation fighter and leader of the rebel army against the invading empire, Miss Halkum (a cohort to my Gnome Rogue/Scorerer) who eventually opened his own School of Perfroming Arts. Miss Halkum was an Oni (homebrew race from another dimension) who was able to fold space (kind of dimension door but with more fine precision) and Fat Sally the Tooth Fairy (in my 16th Century inspired setting).

 

[Gez]

It depends on the culture, which itself depends on the country and the race.

The good-aligned races (dwarves, gnomes, and elves) believe in equal rights and duties for everyone. The neutral races (humans and halflings) not so much.

Most usually, feminine equality is more widespread in the aristocracy than in the hoi polloi. For example, people would not have problem with being the subject of a Queen, Duchess, Countess, etc. because, she's not merely a woman -- she's a noble foremost. But a woman as a captain of the Guards?

There are always exceptions, of course. There's a weird country where the oligarchs consider women to be only objects of standing, meant to be displayed as proof of your wealth and fine taste; while the poors, having to work hard, do not discriminate between men and women, only between able worker and cripple.
But that human country was founded by former slaves of a now-extinct ophidian race (looking a bit like the Sarrukh from Serpent Kingdoms), who tried to imitate their former masters' civilization. A civilization that was created by a serpentine race with an alien mindset, and of which the humans understood next to nothing since most of the communications between ophidians were inintelligible to humans (ultrasonic whistling, body language involving modifying patterns of skin temperature and emission of subtle pheromones, utter lack of facial expressivity, etc.).

Then of course you've got various character paths. Only the fighting classes (barbarian, fighter) are "prejudiced against" women. You won't find much girls in mercenary companies or in town militias -- at least among the combattants.

Nobility (aristocrat) is something you're born into. So gender matters not here.

For clergy (cleric, healer, monk, paladin, sohei), it will depend on faith (both the deity, and the order). So, you'll have men-only orders and women-only orders, and you'll have undiscriminating orders. On the whole, you have gender equality there. Monks and sohei (known as guardians) will usually be men, healers will usually be women, clerics can be both; and for paladins, while most people will expect men to have that role, as it is a question of divine calling, the odds are even for either sex.

The paths of arcane magic (bard, mageblade, runethane, sorcerer, wizard) are open to anyone with the Gift. Thanks to the existence of sorcerers (known as epigones), scholars know that arcane power can be as strong among women as it can be among men, so there are no bigotted views here. Mageblades are more likely to be men, bards are more likely to be women, the other classes are ex-aequo.

Natural magic (druid, ranger, shaman, witch) is also quite diverse. These people are usually loners, often kinda outcasts, so they don't care at all about preconception and prejudice. With only wilderness around them, who's going to tell them: "no, you can't be a ranger because you're a girl!" ? An exception are the witch (from AU), whose practice is usually taught from mother to daughter, leaving boys outside of it.

Spiritual magic, or psionic, is a rare and badly understood phenomenon. Outside of the mentats (akashic from AU) and tacticians (Marshall from MH), who are the only (half-successful) attempt at teaching and learning psionics, and are indeed somewhat restricted to males; the psionic gifts can appear in anyone.

Finally, there's the underground. Rogues are as likely to be of either sex, however, actual thieves, hitmen, burglars and other criminals tend to be men. Maffiosi "guid leaders" tend to be men.

 

[Dr Simon]

Fun with Gender roles

I like to vary it with society. In my Conclave setting:

The Empire of Splendour - theoretically egalitarian, with the notion that all citizens are able to serve the Empire equally as well. Institutional male bias amongst the bureaucratic and judicial castes of Magisters.

Salsham'ai (tree folks) - a non human matriarchal society, run almost like a big boisterous extended family. Ambassadors to the official residence of the Great Trunk Mother tend to be surprised that "art" by favoured grandchildren nestles side by side with expensive works.

Denra-Lyr - men and women are equal halves of one whole. Roles are distinctly divided, but neither gender is considered better or worse than the other overall, even if there are some things that one sex does better than the other.

Vaarta - deeply patriarchal. A rigid feudal social structure and a puritanical church. Of course, the head of the church's anti-magic inquisitorial branch is both a woman and a mage.

Plains Tlaxu ("lion men" if you must) - patriarchal, although females outnumber males 4 to 1. The worth of a male is judged by how many wives he has, and he is allowed (and expected) to also marry his daughters (but not any daughters by those daughters - that would be wrong!).

Sisterhood of Hurriat - wierd matriarchy. Women form the ruling caste, and children are allotted a place in society according to auguries conducted at birth. Men are sent to Brotherhoods - occupationally based guilds. Some women are raised as part of the ruling Sisterhood who protect the society through complex and powerful rituals. Head of the society is a triumvirate of Girl Sister, Mother Sister and Wise Sister. Other women become the Chesu-Akuli, both exalted and revered. The Chesu-Akuli are state prostitutes who keep the society replenished with children, who are secretly part of breeding experiments conducted by the Sisterhood and who provide the magical energy manipulated by the Sisterhood using tantric magic.

Perhaps because I'm a biologist by trade, but when I invent a race or culture I tend to start at the loins and work upwards!

 

[Bagpuss]

Most of my campaign worlds come with a "healthy" dose of sexism, racism (and specism), at least in some domains. Most of the world it is about a common as it is in this world, so most of the time it is a minor issue that doesn't come up, but occasionally it becomes a major issue and prehaps drives the plot.

 

[hong]

Two words: cooties.

What?

 

[fusangite]

Two words: cooties.

What?

And hong continues his unrivaled dominance in the highest posts to words ratio of any EN World member.

 

[Gez]

Really?

 

[WayneLigon]

In the Greatwood game, within the Greatwood urban societies women are roughly equal to men in political and religious matters. They tend to stand lower than men in most military matters though there are female soldiers and the occassional female mercenary captain. They tend to place equal or slightly above men in arcane pursuits. They tend to be very under-represented in the criminal pursuits, though you will have the occassional break-out 'bandit queen' or 'cat burglar'.

The deep forest folk are.. unnerving to the urban people, since they've adopted many Elven traditions. They make no gender distictions whatsoever of any kind - it's like they are literally blind to the idea - so when doing the occassional forest-folk NPC I choose a class, profession, basic personality, then roll a d6 for gender since it can be equal. So far the PC's have only been into the deep forest a couple times and they get a little unnerved since they haven't quite figured out what's going on with the humans there. They know there's something different but haven't quit worked it out. Then, they're dealing with some of the trading families who know their ways are a little disturbing to outsiders (though they themselves are not sure why), so they tread carefully around the 'city folk'.