Primer: Women in Westeros

[GhostWolfe]

Something to remember when playing in Westeros is that you are all Main Characters. You all have roles. This means that the percentage of female PCs who buck the trends of the setting are artificially and considerable inflated. Additionally, this game is set prior to the events of A Game of Thrones, before names such as Brienne of Tarth, Cersei Lannister, and Arya Stark became known.


Smallfolk
In some ways the common people are fortunate. The machinations of Lords and Kings has very little bearing on their day-to-day time. Women are afforded much more freedom at this status because, simply put, no one cares. The influence of their betters still trickles down, as the Smallfolk attempt to emulate the nobility and gender roles still play a significant part. Men traditionally take on the "hard" or "dirty" work such as carpentry, smithing, agriculture, and husbandry; while women are more likely to work in "softer" fields such as tailoring, weaving, spinning, and embroidering.


Warfare
Only men go to war in Westeros, which remains a highly formalised matter for the nobility and their vassals. It is a brow-beaten and defeated Lord who allows his daughters to handle weapons, let alone train with them. Not that that has ever stopped a girl from going behind his back. The further down the the social ladder you go, the less resistance you will encounter to women taking up arms.


Leadership and Inheritance
With the notable - and still distrusted - exception of Dorne, leaders and heirs in Westeros are almost always male. Upon marriage, a woman sheds the name and coat of arms of her family, and adopts those of her husband. It is only by considerable political manoeuvring, or sheer desperate necessity, that these traditions are circumvented.

A Queen or Lady Regent may lead in the stead of their child, but becomes Dowager when the child turns 16. Even when a Lord is away from his Holding, he will appoint a Steward or Castellan to act in his stead, rather than turn the reins over to his wife.


Noble Ladies
As far as the men of Westeros are concerned, noble-born women are delicate creatures, unfit for such difficult or unseemly matters as finances and economics. A noble lady should be "kept", like a pretty bird in a cage, to be admired and to bear children that will be reared by others. A lady should be quiet and courteous, and should not seek to harden her hands with work or weapons.

A noblewoman may fill her days with with such delicate pursuits as letter writing (to be carried by riders, rather than ravens), flower arranging, "gardening" (but only the clean and pretty parts), embroidery, weaving, singing, playing appropriately feminine musical instruments, gossiping, praying, and taking lessons with their Septa or governess.

Embroidery is mostly done to prettify a lady's clothing, decorate pillows and tablecloths (and the like), and make gifts and tokens; while mending and darning is undertaken by servants. Ladies may work together on tapestries, quilts, and other larger projects.

While ladies can freely give their crafts to others, to sell them would only be considered as an act of desperation. Even if a noblewoman found herself in dire need of money, and had already sold her jewels and borrowed heavily from her allies, it is unlikely that she would find a buyer - the Smallfolk would never dare, if they could afford it, and merchants deal in quantities larger than she would be looking to sell.