could you give me some advice on worldbuliding gender roles? trying to write a matriarchy
Sure, of course! :D
Worldbuilding: Gender Roles
There's many interesting ways to take gender roles in worldbuilding, from matriarchs to patriarchs to other alike.
I do have some other posts going into things related to gender roles that can also be of help.
Wedding Ceremonies
Gender & Sexuality
Head of Household
Typically gender roles are centered in the household the strongest, following a head of the household, or head of the family. Just in real life we see this change from culture to culture. Even patriarchal structures can be drastically different from one another, such as nuclear family of the United States versus the Salaryman of East Asia.
Their placement as leader in the family, often represents their role in society as well (bosses, political figures, decision makers, etc.) The same goes for the other shoe.
What values does this society hold that makes a certain gender be more upheld in familial hierarchies? Is it how mothers are seen as strong, nurturing, and good caretakers for their ability to produce children? Is it how one gender has historically worked in difficult workforces or fought as soldiers? Was it something in the anatomy?
This can be even more wild when it comes to fantasy races, and the differences amongst their genders.
Societal Expectations
With gender roles comes societal expectations: pressures that hold over the heads of children and adults alike.
These expectations can be as small as expectant personality traits, to the biggest decisions in one's life. Who are the soldiers? Who are the housekeepers? Who does the cleaning? Who rears the children?
Such expectations would be suggested to people all throughout their life through society, from school, to work, to even what one does in their free time.
How these expectations came about can be both logical and irrational. Many of these social ideals can originate from historical events, religious beliefs, spiritual practices, traditions, and even malicious influence.
Marriage & Love
For awhile in the United States it was customary for the man to ask out the woman, simply because of gender roles. Nowadays has those rigid roles have faded away, its a more equal playing field.
The more rigid of gender roles the more there is opportunity for blind spots of darkness in romance, from heteronormative societies, to domestic abuse, to more.
This opens opportunities for things like arranged marriages, dowries, extravagant wedding ceremonies, and favoritism amongst children.
Who gets to say what in a relationship can be dependent on gender roles? Why in more equal societies it simply won't matter...
Employment & Housework
What are these gender roles found in the workforce? Are certain people not allowed to even work in particular workforces? Is promotions more difficult to get for one gender or another? What happens if things suddenly change?
The goes for things inside the home, especially childcare. Are certain chores and duties split amongst the members of a relationship? Are children expected to take certain duties in the house as they grow older? What kind of things does breadwinner have to do when they return home?
Beauty Standards
Beauty standards, although seemingly random, often times can also reflect gender roles and cultural standards. They change alongside culture, reflecting ideas good and bad of the current times.
Although not everyone bends to beauty standards, they still remain important and catch a variety of people within their clutches.
American values of the current day overtly hyper-masculine man with a square jaw so sharp it requires plastic surgery, and abs so defined they can only be achieved through severe dehydration is also an overrepresentation of American values upheld in toxic masculinity, such as physical strength, sharpness/rigidness, with a sprinkle of racism.
In the meanwhile the East Asian standard of the submissive wife is can be found in someone so pale they never leave the house, so skinny they cannot fight back, and so thin they have the will put themselves through torture for those around them, therefor potentially their own lover.
These extreme beauty standards though don't really at all mean what the actual common person finds attractive.
Despite how frequent the skinny Asian beauty is in China, the endearing image of the Chinese mom is one with weight and a happy round face. While the ideal man of plenty of American's includes a beer-belly, hair all over, and puppy eyes.
This doesn't even get into how these very tropes of beauty standards can subvert in queer cultures...
Discrimination & Prejudice
With rigid gender roles comes extreme ideals, and usually comes discrimination.
Due to how prevalent sexism is both ways alone, better yet towards women all around the world, about everyone knows how it goes. I'm sure everyone's heard a sexist comment at least once.
These things can also hurt cisgender, transgender, and genderqueer people alike when it comes to those who feel need a to incite their gender role expectations onto others.
In a society that is more friendly, lenient, and queer allied; hopefully rampant sexism is a thing of the past.
Genderqueer Roles
In societies of ancient times and cultures long since damaged by imperialism, it hasn't been uncommon for genderqueer people to be seen as sacred or more magical in some kind of way. While strictly heteronormative cultures see such queerness as an anomaly.
Designing gender roles in worldbuilding can apply to queer genders as well. One of my favorite pieces of fanfictions that experiments with this is Growing Up Gerudo, a comic following an AU of Legend of Zelda.
In my NMA worldbuilding series, the Irisians of the north operate on six primary genders.
Gender roles aren't necessarily more lenient despite the upheld values of queerness in Irisian culture, but instead lean heavily on anyone who is a cisgender mobub, as they are seen as the most magically adept for spiritual reasons since they present with bigenitelia, while also having the preferred gendered body type to Irisian values.
Mobub are expected to be the leader, excel in academics and workforces alike, and rear children one way or another. Meanwhile the opposing gender, Jadl (androgynous with a lack of sexual organs), are expected to be supporters to others, especially the mobub.
Either way I just wanted to say that you can do this gender roles stuff with worldbuilt fantasy species and gender queerness too...
