Title text: No, we actually do have a woman who's basically part of our fellowship. She lives in Rivendell, you wouldn't know her.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.
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"Why are there no women or children in this band of medieval warriors? Social and societal division of labour, what's that?"
LOTR is not set in the medieval period. Its a made up era with made up cultures and made up magic. And if you're going to get all Thermian argument about it, LOTR lore has many female warriors.
The idea that female medieval warriors only exist in fantasy is made up by misogynists to gate keep female representation.
Here is a list of named women that participated in battle. Keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg given the erasure of women in history
Joan of Arc Eleanor of Aquitaine Æthelflæd Artemisia I of Caria Zenobia Matilda of Tuscany Margaret of Anjou Tomoe Gozen Grace O'Malley Isabella I of Castile Fu Hao Teuta Joanna of Flanders Lozen Jeanne Hachette Caterina Sforza Khawla bint al-Azwar Lagertha Sikelgaita Mavia Dihya Isabella of France
If you want women in your fantasy novels, why not - it's fantasy.
Let's be real though - sexual dimorphism is very pronounced in humans, and the women you listed were absolutely the exception. Militaristic societies overwhelmingly used men for fighting, if only because women were too valuable for their ability to bear children.
It's impossible to overstate the importance of women throughout history, but they don't have to have been physically fighting in wars for that to be the case.