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From: friedman@uiucdcs.UUCP (friedman )
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Matriarchal soceities - (nf)
Message-ID: <4847@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 10-Jan-84 22:27:40 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.4847
Posted: Tue Jan 10 22:27:40 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Jan-84 00:43:43 EST
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#R:sri-arpa:-1506400:uiucdcs:12500062:000:983
uiucdcs!friedman    Jan 10 08:47:00 1984

I wouldn't classify the hani society in The Pride of Chanur as
matriarchal at all.  On the home planet, territories are ruled by males,
supported by their wives, daughters, and sisters until, in their declining
years, they're tossed out (and expected to die) by stronger young males.
But they're assumed to be physiologically unsuited to intersteller jumps,
so hani intersteller trading ships are crewed exclusively by females.
Even these salty gals defer to males, though.  When the ship of the title
takes on a derelict human male, the crew worries their captain when she
realizes that they are being deferential to their prisoner just because
they've noticed he's male, even before they've worked out that he's as
fully sapient as they are.

Incidentally, I find it interesting in this book that the entire story
is told from the viewpoint of the hani captain, so that the human is
looked on as an alien (along with aliens of several other species).
Cherryh is very good at this.