Gender Is No Object: Difference between revisions

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A lot of media (especially science fiction and fantasy) features societies with no gender restrictions. Women fight alongside men, in the same combat roles, in command, and so on. Because it's a societal norm, no one considers this unusual. Hereditary monarchies can be ruled by women as well as men, despite a real-world historical restriction on women ruling the kingdom.

This is ~~NOT~~ the same as splitting the sexes up into segregated units. When this trope is used, mixed units are the norm, and by extension often a completely integrated society as well in which the ''only'' difference between the sexes, in a social sense, is that one can get pregnant and the other can impregnate. In an Science Fiction story where test-tube-and-incubator babies are common, even this is removed and [[Samus Is a Girl|if the soldier is encased in armor, you can't tell what gender he/she is]], and it doesn't matter anyway.

This is ''not'' the same as splitting the sexes up into segregated units. When this trope is used, mixed units are the norm, and by extension often a completely integrated society as well in which the ''only'' difference between the sexes, in a social sense, is that one can get pregnant and the other can impregnate. In an Science Fiction story where test-tube-and-incubator babies are common, even this is removed and [[Samus Is a Girl|if the soldier is encased in armor, you can't tell what gender he/she is]], and it doesn't matter anyway.

Be careful: not every story about women serving in the military is an example of this trope. Stories where the majority of military units are male and [[The Smurfette Principle|occasionally]] [[The Squadette|you find a girl]] (''[[Ender's Game]]'', for example) do not apply. Nor do militaries where women are common, but are restricted to certain roles (especially if those are noncombat roles). Nor do stories where there are women in combat roles, but they are consistently portrayed as falling into the [[Damsel in Distress]] or [[Faux Action Girl]] trope.

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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' Any and all of the women shown, ''especially'' the ones in the millitary, KICK ASS. We have Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong "The Wall of Briggs", Lt. Riza Hawkeye (who's pretty much the only one who can keep the Colonel under control), and Lt. Maria Ross (Not as [[Badass]], but important nonetheless). And let's not even start on [[Badass Teacher|Izumi]]...

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== [[Live Action TV]] ==

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica ~~Reimagined~~]]'' The rebooted series eats, sleeps, and breathes this trope. There are women in every major role of life, from "knuckledraggers" like Cally all the way up to President of the Colonies Laura Roslin. Men, likewise, often fill traditionally "female" roles like religious leader, diplomat, and secretary. All living quarters for the rank-and-file soldiers are unisex as well, including bathrooms.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' The rebooted series eats, sleeps, and breathes this trope. There are women in every major role of life, from "knuckledraggers" like Cally all the way up to President of the Colonies Laura Roslin. Men, likewise, often fill traditionally "female" roles like religious leader, diplomat, and secretary. All living quarters for the rank-and-file soldiers are unisex as well, including bathrooms.

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' Starfleet is supposed to be purely integrated; with gender no hindrance to attaining any position. The shows themselves often didn't [[The Smurfette Principle|quite meet]] this lofty principle.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' suffered from [[Fair for Its Day]], featuring female crewmembers who had as much authority as the writers thought they could get away giving them.