Nothing to do with equal opportunities for women, everything to do with exploitation.
Gah, yes. Painful, but true. With regards to the "equal opportunities": I still find it hard to grasp that, for example, women in my country were only given voting rights as late as 1948 - my grandmother was 27 then, for heaven's sake!
Good point about the governess - though the gap between that and, say, a teaching position at a public school still seems pretty huge to me. Governess at court I'd see more as a ceremonial position, and in any case not something men in such a society are likely to be doing; also, who knows if it's actually the governess who teaches the children? Teacher at a public school, though, now there's a job with standing - or, at least, that's how it was in our own society a few decades ago. Having a woman there... not sure if that would fit into the Centauri world view. But as you say, the line is hard to draw based on what tidbits canon gives us.
Also - thanks so much for the rec on your journal!
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Gah, yes. Painful, but true. With regards to the "equal opportunities": I still find it hard to grasp that, for example, women in my country were only given voting rights as late as 1948 - my grandmother was 27 then, for heaven's sake!
Good point about the governess - though the gap between that and, say, a teaching position at a public school still seems pretty huge to me. Governess at court I'd see more as a ceremonial position, and in any case not something men in such a society are likely to be doing; also, who knows if it's actually the governess who teaches the children? Teacher at a public school, though, now there's a job with standing - or, at least, that's how it was in our own society a few decades ago. Having a woman there... not sure if that would fit into the Centauri world view. But as you say, the line is hard to draw based on what tidbits canon gives us.
Also - thanks so much for the rec on your journal!