Doonan Women

[Shani]

One thing I did find refreshing about Doona is that it seemed to be not only acceptable but common that the women often had 'wife and mother' roles. So many of the women in Anne's books were career oriented and put any children into childcare or simply didn't have them.
I loved seeing Pat Reeve and her friends doing what I do every day and enjoying it with no guilt at all.

[Linmag]

Do you think that could be something to do with the nature of the world they're on? On a low-tech agrarian colony world, 'housekeeping' would be much more of a full-time job than it is for most women in the western world at the moment.

The other side of the coin is also represented, by the Gringg space captain who has given birth to two cubs during the course of her voyage of exploration, and still has at least the younger one with her. This is also accepted without comment as perfectly normal.

[Cheryl]

That is a notable difference between Doona and other series, even Freedom which has a similar new-colony setup, albeit with forced colonists.

I wonder how much it might relate to when the first book was written, as it was one of Anne's first. *goes to look up biography data*

Decision at Doona was Anne's third novel, published a year before her divorce (and probably written 6-12 months prior). It's reasonable that at that time she was much more...in touch with the joys of raising a family as a job in of itself.

[Shani]

Originally Posted by Linmag

Do you think that could be something to do with the nature of the world they're on? On a low-tech agrarian colony world, 'housekeeping' would be much more of a full-time job than it is for most women in the western world at the moment.

The other side of the coin is also represented, by the Gringg space captain who has given birth to two cubs during the course of her voyage of exploration, and still has at least the younger one with her. This is also accepted without comment as perfectly normal.

Lin I was mostly referring to Decision at Doona (current read) but I didn't make that very clear so fair enough
Having said that, generally in Anne's books the women have a 'real' job as well as any housekeeping that may need to be done. The majority of women portrayed in Decision at Doona didn't seem to feel the need to be Vets or go herd cattle etc.

[granath]

True enough. But a woman's role in an agrarian environment, especially one with few technical gizmos to help, is a full-time job. They were pulling their weight, doing what they did.

[Linmag]

Originally Posted by Shani

Lin I was mostly referring to Decision at Doona (current read) but I didn't make that very clear so fair enough
Having said that, generally in Anne's books the women have a 'real' job as well as any housekeeping that may need to be done. The majority of women portrayed in Decision at Doona didn't seem to feel the need to be Vets or go herd cattle etc.

Sorry Shani, I had just finished the whole series, so Treaty Planet was uppermost in my mind

[Kater]

If I'm not mistaken Pern would have been that way to if it hadn't been for thread. But then there wouldn't have been a Pern would there