I get the feeling that there's a tendency to default to male soldiers on the very front lines, just as regular grunts and such, but the closer you are to the Fire Nation, the more women are in place. Zhao gave his speech to "the sons and daughters of Fire"- there are definitely women in the military, and not just as home-guards as we saw in Day of Black Sun. Firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles, and I figure even amongst the non-bending troops there are particularly tough and patriotic girls who earn their pay and demand the respect of their brothers in arms.
I like to think of the Fire Nation as having a stronger egalitarian at-least-between-the-sexes feel than most of the other nations- but there is still some understanding that a woman may want to retire earlier for her secondary career managing a household, and that that's as much of a duty to the nation as putting your young muscle into the war effort. Noble girls might be encouraged to take that route first, just so they can make sure there's heirs in the offing while the boys go off to war first, but they can still go into the military academies and get officer training if they show talent, and from there long and successful careers.
There's still always a small percentage of women in the front lines, it just gets smaller the further out you go (can't trust those dishonorable foreigners, and only the toughest are going out there willingly). That leaves a larger percentage serving closer to home, as town guards, coastal patrol, perhaps specialty forces like the Yu Yan or the Imperial Firebenders with their all-encompassing uniforms. There was mention in the art book of elite female firebending units, but that it never made it into the show- I figure there are still some very badass firebender girls who aren't in the royal family.
I tend to imagine freely available herbal contraceptives for women in the Fire Nation- that helps keep them free to serve as they wish, while keeping their options open.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-07-15 09:06 pm (UTC)I like to think of the Fire Nation as having a stronger egalitarian at-least-between-the-sexes feel than most of the other nations- but there is still some understanding that a woman may want to retire earlier for her secondary career managing a household, and that that's as much of a duty to the nation as putting your young muscle into the war effort. Noble girls might be encouraged to take that route first, just so they can make sure there's heirs in the offing while the boys go off to war first, but they can still go into the military academies and get officer training if they show talent, and from there long and successful careers.
There's still always a small percentage of women in the front lines, it just gets smaller the further out you go (can't trust those dishonorable foreigners, and only the toughest are going out there willingly). That leaves a larger percentage serving closer to home, as town guards, coastal patrol, perhaps specialty forces like the Yu Yan or the Imperial Firebenders with their all-encompassing uniforms. There was mention in the art book of elite female firebending units, but that it never made it into the show- I figure there are still some very badass firebender girls who aren't in the royal family.
I tend to imagine freely available herbal contraceptives for women in the Fire Nation- that helps keep them free to serve as they wish, while keeping their options open.