Imperial Women?

Why is there an absence of women in the Empire? We see them in the EU, but why not in the movies? The Rebels have them.

 

It's simply more Imperial bigotry.

 

why is it bigotry to not have women in the force?

 

The basic answer would be it shows an inequality in the Imperial view of the genders as it says men are fit to serve but women are not fit to serve in any capacity.

I think thematically it's supposed to serve as a contrast between the Rebellion and the Empire showing that the Rebels(and the Jedi in the Prequels) are fighting for life and diversity whereas the Empire fights for death and oppression. It just seems to me that theres a significance to why we never see any Imperials that aren't white, British, men.

 

That pretty much sums it up.

 

there aren't any female clones either.

 

There's not, but that's simply because they're all clones of a single man. The Imperial Officers on the other hand are by all accounts people who were born the natural way rather than via cloning.

 

it's a continuation, though, don't you think?

 

I don't as there's no real connection between the clones and the officers. I think that the reason all stormtroopers are male could be partially due to the clones but, I'd think if there was a connection between the clones and the officers we'd have an officer who was something other than a white male.

 

Janga Fett wasn't available for cloning..

 

Same reason why there are few females in the armed forces here on Earth.

 

well, the clones form the basis for the troopers, so there is definitely continuation on that basis. and then maybe palps just likes having men around more than women
is the empire racist? i'd not say that, i'd say they are uniform.

 

Is there an inherent difference? Well, OK. Maybe it's asymmetric. Racism implies uniformity / uniformity is implied in racism ..... but uniformity does not imply racism. I'd say that the Empire is an inherently racist organisation, without necessarily practising racism against other states. Or something.

 

to me racism is being anal about the colour of skin and forming prejudices based on it. and then linking it to origin as well, like.
it would perhaps imply uniformity within the race, but within that, once identified as being of that race you're ok, aren't you, because you already got your label. kind of like a woman gossiping and everyone going, yeah, thet's what they do type thing.

uniformity or conformity (although uniformity somehow fits better with the empire, dunnit) would maybe imply everyone thinking alike, or being forced to think alike. or behave alike...

so, i guess, there is some difference but i cannot be arsed to find out what it is.

maybe the empire is sexist. we are kind of veering towards that, aren't we? but personally i'm not bothered that there aren't any women within the ranks of the officers et al. maybe makes a point about women, smart enough to stay away from silly power games

 

It might also be because men make better soldiers, since they are physically stronger and more resilient.

 

I could see that for Stormtroopers, but the Officers rarely get into combat since they're stationed on board capital ships where physical strength wouldn't matter.

 

Also, it should be noted that there is a lack of non-human officers in the Empire as well. Perhaps the Empire is Xenophobic?

 

I think it definitely is. I'm less sure that Palpatine himself is xenophobic, but Imperial policy seems to be.

 

When the films were made women were very much not active in the armed forces. They might have served as medics or even pilots but there was no "Boss" type commando leader during those times. Even now women on the front lines is thought of as taboo, but there is a vast difference in thirty years. Women are being allowed in combat roles, even special forces including a division in Detachment Delta. Some countries, notably Israel, are very much open to women being in the armed forces. And in regard to the films one thing to consider is the difference between the Rebellion and the Empire. The Empire was a military machine that cloned, conscripted, drafted, ect warriors into their ranks and were not hurting enough to have to resort to desperate tactics. The Rebels on the other hand were a rag tag group who needed every advantage they could get, and just as children, little girls, were gunmen in the Vietcong (remembering some influence is drawn from Vietnam) women served in the Rebellion. And don't forget Mara Jade. Sure this is EU and retconned into the movies but I think as well as femtroopers being canon I think now as Star Wars has moved with the times Mara was second or third in the pecking order, depending on whether Vader was out of favor, and is technically an Imperial.

 

Vader's definitely an Imperial given that he's Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy once Tarkin dies.

There are only female Stormtroopers in the Fel Empire which is a far more tolerant Empire than that of Palpatine. The EU also has very few female Imperial Officers due to the bigotry of the Empire(it's an undertone within the doctrine of Human High Culture.) Daala herself admitted as such and felt it necessary to issue a decree allowing women and aliens to serve in the Imperial military after the death of Palpatine.

Saga however typically sticks to the films only and within those we only see women fight for the Rebellion, the Jedi, and the Republic(yet once it becomes the Empire we only see males carry prominence within the Imperial military.)

 

i'm still not entirely sure why it wouldn't be a good thing to not have women be in the front line of combat.

 

Tactically it's a good idea, but we see Imperial operations like the Death Star that aren't intended to be on the front lines in combat. There also is an inherent inequality there if women aren't allowed to serve at the frontlines and men are. Whether or not it's an inequality that is good or not is certainly arguable, but it's an inequality none the less.

 

um, yes, but it's not really terribly smart to serve the empire, is it? what with supporting dictatorship and all? so, why campaign for the potential inclusion of women and other ethnicities?
it's a bit like complaining that less women and children die when ships sink because they get rescued first (not sure this is proper stats) because really, hey, it's good that anybody at all survives, no?

otherwise it's an inverted form of sexism which i don't get personally, women campaining for inclusion in armed forces. why would anyone want to join in the first place?

 

I'm not saying women should want to join the Empire, I'm saying Imperial bigotry is yet another reason it had to be destroyed.

I've got no idea why anyone would want to join, but if they do I think they should be allowed to join (assuming they're psychologically fit) regardless of gender.

 

Well first off, there are civilians who would agree with the Empire. Remember, we are seeing things mostly from the Rebel pov. Only occaisionally do we see what the "bad guys" are up to. & then they aren't really explored in the films,outside of Vader.There are soldiers on the Imperial side who thought they were doing their patriotc duty by serving in the Imperial army.

In this world, I can understand women wanting to serve. Their desire to serve, for whatever reason they may have, is as strong as that of men.