radical women

All the women's villages share the same social hierarchy.  Highest is a matriarch called Woman Woman; below her, every woman who has had a daughter.  Lower still are girls, a category that includes grown females who have not had children, and finally boys, who are valued so little they are sometimes literally named after nothing.  Within each layer are finer divisions.  Within the cohort of girls, firstborns are the most highly regarded, an advantage they keep when they become women.  Their position as women also depends on how old they are when they have their first girl.  The older she is, the more she is considered at risk of her girl being cursed and the less respect she is granted.
This hierarchy has held fast for more than fifty generations, but recently in the frontier settlement of Moon Wish village, an increasing number of lower-class women are seeking to challenge it.

History

Because of having to move locations during the foundation of the village, the original residents relied for over a decade on building supplies and rations provided by Star Flower Village. This debt took generations to clear and was done primarily through firewood, the only resource Moon Wish Village had in abundance compared with Star Flower Village. The bulk of the work was done by the lower class, later-birth women, with much assistance by mature girls and even boys. However, the repayment was celebrated by the higher-class women with little acknowledgment of those whose effort went into making it possible.  The lower-class women began voicing their resentment to each other, gravitating toward others who felt the same way.

Spreading the word

The radical women make no particular secret of their opinions, and the village residents tend to come firmly down on one side or the other.  Most still support the familiar hierarchy, however, prompting the radical women to look farther afield.  Through boys as an intermediary, they have been seeking support from women in Berry Seed Village. The recent drop in visiting boy packs has given them cause to believe that the traditionalist women are threatening the boys to prevent them from helping the cause.

Type

Political, Faction / Party

Location

Moon Wish village

Related Ethnicities

• The Women

View from the future

When the radical faction finally made their challenge, the confrontation was disastrous. Although the radicals lost the battle, they won the future. They fled down the river, making their way eventually to the lower river basin, from where their descendants spread along the coastline and into the ocean.