It Is Quite Interesting That the Both Societies Place Women in Leadership Roles

Two works of science fiction with depict a non-standard role for women in the family are Robert Heinlein’s novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Ursula Le Guin’s short story “The Matter of Seggri.” To explore new male-female dynamics both of these authors create plausible future societies in which the numerical balance of the sexes is skewed. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress takes place on Earth’s moon, where the men outnumber the women by at least a two-to-one ratio. In contrast, Ursula Le Guin creates a society in which, due to a genetic defect, women outnumber men by as much as sixteen-to-one. Though the societies differ on many accounts, there are several striking similarities which are surprising given the singular nature of their gender ratios.

Both of the authors create a very rigid gender-based hierarchy within the family unit.In “The Matter of Seggri,” as one might expect, the overwhelming numerical advantage of women has placed them in control of the society as well as the family. Men have no role within the family other than to provide genetic material.This contrasts interestingly with the lunar society in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In Heinlein’s novel, the gender imbalance is due to the penal colony origins of the human settlement rather than a genetic flaw and though the numerical advantage favors men in this case, women are at the head of the family.

It is quite interesting that the both societies place women in leadership roles

The society is strictly segregated on the basis of gender. While women participate fully in the society, men are sequestered away in “castles” where they train to compete in world-wide competitive sports leagues. The champions of the immensely popular and violent spectator sports become “studs” and are paid by women to impregnate them. The women of Seggri can also engage in recreational sex with the man of their choosing by visiting the local “fuckery.” Sexual encounters, whether for reproduction or sport, are the only private interactions adult men and women engage in. Because of this, families are made up entirely of women, and there are often several generations living under the same roof.

The first of these similarities lies in the hierarchical nature of the family unit in the two societies