Hi! Not sure if you answered this already, but what are gender dynamics like for Andorians?
What did they look like historically? seems like they would be driven by survival, but are there any that are maybe less so, or once were but maybe are outdated? Like perhaps women or men aren't encouraged to take on certain kinds of roles? Or is that mostly not a thing?
And what do they think of gender dynamics amongst other species? Like misogyny or feminism amongst the humans as an example?
Hello!
I'm so sorry about not getting to your ask more promptly - it's been an absolute roller coaster on my end, and trying to find time to sit down and consider my answer has been challenging. I hope you can forgive me!
So, gender dynamics for Andorians are a little different than what we're used to, but at the same time there's a lot of common ground. Now, I haven't sat down and really, truly fleshed out all the nuances for this, but here's what I do have:
To refresh: Andorians as a whole are a passionate - and, yes, quite aggressive - species who regulate themselves carefully to maintain social harmony and better the community without going so far as to deny their inherent natures - or their biology.
Biology, regrettably, cares very little about gender, self-perception, or any of the similar social luxuries modern societies enjoy today, and in the very furthest reaches of Andorian history, biology - and survival - superseded all else.
In fact, most of Andorian society's gender norms, ancient and modern, have been influenced heavily by what survives, rather than what is fashionable, politically astute, or in line with any religious proscriptions. While they have the souls of artists and warrior poets, they are not ruled by their passions - they are ruled by cold pragmatism.
So, while most Andorians would say they have a functional meritocracy in their society, where competence and ability rule all, the truth is that there are things that have carried over from their ancient history which affect not only who advances but in what sectors. The best and most obvious example I can give is that of Andorian women.
Andorian women have always been quite aggressive, and during their fertile seasons they become even more aggressive in the pursuit of a suitable partner than usual, even when the objective is not necessarily conception.
This is not, however, meant to imply that Andorian men are passive. They are not. Nor do I wish to imply that Andorian women go through periods of furious irrationality absent of responsibility or coherency, as they do not. Fear, rage, and overall heightened aggression in Andorians do not present the same way as they do in Humans. Aggressive Andorians are rational and calculating even during the very heights of rage - frighteningly so, in fact, for those unfamiliar or unused to Andorians.
In conclusion, when I say that Andorian women are more aggressive and go through periods of even higher levels of aggression, I do not mean that they fly into blind rages or become indiscriminately violent for no reason. They are simply this: more direct, more assertive, more relentless in the pursuit of their goals, and more inclined to take greater risks than usual. Calling it a kind of tunnel vision would be an apt description.
From this, Andorian women have developed a... let's call it a reputation for (and something like a cousin to the expectation of) being the initiators in most relationships. Andorian men are not passive in these matters, however - it is merely that the women are more forward than the men. On the whole, Andorians as a species are considered quite forward and open-minded, sexually. Only the nomadic Clans and the Aenar subspecies are considered shy or reserved, among the Andorian populations.
But what about Andorian men? The truth is, Andorian men are not gentler and more passive by nature any more than Andorian women are. The primary difference between them is that Andorian women are considered more volatile than their male counterparts, particularly during certain stages of their fertility cycles. All Andorians can be volatile as a baseline, but it's considered a failure of self-regulation and self-control (outside of, again, a particular stage of an Andorian woman's fertile season, which cannot be controlled anymore than a screen door can stop a hurricane.)
All fertile Andorian women become a little unhinged during their fertile seasons but are otherwise as steady and level-headed the rest of the time as the men, and this is considered quite normal in their society. By comparison, Andorian men have no such cycle - they are fertile at all times - and maintain much more consistently level behaviour throughout the year... unless they are bonded and/or married to a woman, in which case their partner's season absolutely can affect them similarly.
It would be tempting for some to imagine that this would lead Andorians to conclude that Andorian men are more naturally inclined to be caretakers and protectors while Andorian women are natural soldiers/hunters/what-have-you.
This is biologically stupid.
Females, by default, are the only ones who can bear offspring and carry the next generation. It doesn't matter how many males survive a war or a disaster or a bad winter, if there's only a single fertile female available that bloodline (and Clan) is in serious trouble. Because of this, Andorian women are and were biological chokepoints for genetic diversity and the continuation of a Clan.
Thus, only an absolutely desperate Clan would actively push for their women to be in the front lines of combat unless they had a surplus population that could bear those losses. The surest sign of a failing Clan was the sudden presence of many more of their women on the field of battle, or out on dangerous hunts or voyages.
In these ancient times, Andorian women were the keepers of the Clan Lodge and holdings. Now, do not mistake me - they weren't baking, minding the kids, and waiting for their menfolk to return like civil war wives. The women were the primary (and sometimes sole) defenders of their lands and Lodges, and during the raiding seasons Andorian women were well known for running their Lodges and outposts like military encampments. The elderly watched over the children, usually, while the women seamlessly took over the roles left vacant by the raiding parties. (In more than a few cases, they fulfilled these roles more competently than those who vacated such positions for a place on the raiding party in the first place.)
In such times, women were also considered the guardians of their bloodline, especially before quad marriages were normalized as a survival mechanism and the social shifts that followed came into effect. Daughters, sisters, and wives were the mechanism by which land, power, and property were inherited, because no matter who the father of a child might be the identity of the mother was usually pretty self-evident. Men could inherit within a Clan in ancient times of course, because Andorians have always been pragmatic that way, but female inheritors were preferred.
Women, both real and figures of mythology alike, become symbols of stability, protection, and enduring legacy as a result of these practices. (This is now considered antiquated but fairly inoffensive, as far as modern sentiments go. However, most modern Andorian women would rather be praised for their actual skills and deeds, when it comes to their contributions to society at large.)
In contrast, Andorian men were often treated as... not expendable, precisely, but perhaps as less painful for a Clan to lose. Men primarily made up the raiding and war parties throughout history, men usually undertook the most perilous journeys, and men almost exclusively hunted the most dangerous wildlife. It was not a matter of contempt or disregard for their sex or their roles, but simple survivability. A Clan can come back from losing most of its men as long as a handful remain and there are a healthy number of fertile, preferably unrelated women left. It's not ideal by any means, but recovery is at least possible in this scenario.
Men, as with women, became symbolic figures of another kind during these times, praised for their self-sacrifice and heroism, or their boldness and their decisiveness in battle. (A much less overt version of this attitude is actually still fairly prevalent in modern Andorian society, though it's attributed primarily to Imperial Guardsmen, arbiters, and other such occupations rather than an general sentiment. Your average artisanal baker isn't going to be impressed by such praise and may actually interpret it as mockery.)
The laws and customs of Andorian society have changed many times since those distant ages, but some hold-overs remain:
Andorian women are never prohibited from joining the Imperial Guard or advancing within the ranks unless they are the last remaining child of a Clan bloodline - though this prohibition applies to Andorian men as well, in fairness. Even so, there are still notably more Andorian men in the ranks than women, and those women who are members are often trained for very specific roles. Engineering, communications, and medicine are common routes, but beyond common convention there's nothing actually forbidding women from other specializations. (Medics, nurses, and doctors are particularly valued roles for women, however, as they require a degree of ruthlessness in order to keep their oft recalcitrant patients in recovery and out of trouble and Andorian women are considered quite adept at this, as a rule.)
Andorian women do tend to flock to more administrative roles and roughly fifty to sixty percent of all Ministers have been female, with some generational fluctuations. Similarly, the civilian medical field is also generally dominated by women on all levels rather than rebalancing with a stronger male presence, but surprisingly the rest of the economic sectors in Andorian territory are fairly balanced between Andorian men and women.
Now, in terms of how Andorians view other species' gender dynamics, or indeed other cultural differences... it varies. Those who care to understand the various reasons behind the differing dynamics can parse them well enough, even if they don't particularly resonate or make sense to the Andorians in question.
Do Andorians understand why Vulcan men enter a room or unfamiliar area before their women? Sure - it's defensive, ensuring the more valuable female does not encounter danger first. Would it happen on Andoria? Not unless the man in question was part of a security team or a bodyguard of some kind for the woman, no.
As for Human gender dynamics, particularly the old school stuff... this is mostly met with bafflement, and a not insignificant level of irritation, if not outright offense, if it's ever brought into what could be thought of as predominantly Andorian spaces.
The Humans that Andorians were first introduced to seemed so much more sensible and egalitarian than their historic "old fashioned" social mores would indicate. Deliberately hampering half of the population with absurd restrictions and reduced rights is just that to the Andorian mind: absurd, and very clearly a deeply unfortunate byproduct of not needing every single able body available to ensure survival.
Most of the time, however, Andorians shrug off alien differences as just that - alien differences. Of course aliens are different. Why shouldn't they be?
Alright, hopefully that wasn't entirely rambling and at least a little coherent, and hopefully I haven't contradicted myself anywhere. My brain is basically pudding at this point.
