Fan ArticlesStarstripe shares an interesting thought about society within the Warriors universe.
Ok, so the other day I was wondering: Do Warriors treat toms and she-cats fairly? Especially in leadership. So I did some research and here it goes…
Out of the 5 founders of the clans, 3 of them were males. Windstar, one of the females, was succeeded by 4 males after. Shadowclan however, continued to keep its female line until the 5th leader Blizzardstar took leadership. Yet this isn’t bad. The idea of sexism is to favour one gender over another, no matter which gender. But Queens have at some points been put down as only ‘protective mother’s’. One example to change this was Daisytail. The band of Queens she created made Code 5. They rose up against the two toms in power during a battle. The rule they enforced was that a kit must be at least six moons old to become an apprentice. Here is an extract of a conversation between Daisytail and Hawkfoot, another Queen.
“I can’t let Specklepaw fight, I just can’t!”
“You don’t have a choice…”
To suggest the fact that mothers don’t have a choice and control over their kits in some way, in my opinion, is really bad. Another example is Daisy and Ferncloud who were criticised for their decision to stay in the nursery to care for their and other’s young. They were helping the clan in a different way. Just because they are not fighting doesn’t mean they’re wrong.
Back to leadership:
toms she-cats unknown-gendered
thunderclan 14 2 0
riverclan 8 7 1
windclan 8 5 1
shadowclan 12 7 1
skyclan 12 2 2
It seems here that sexism is definitely a thing. From these statistics the most sexist clan is definitely Thunderclan. With a whopping difference of 12 between female and male leaders. It’s easy to see that here. Their only female leaders were Doestar and Bluestar. Skyclan also have the same amount of she-cat leaders. This was Leafstar and Maplestar. However, we also have to keep in mind if the two unknown-gendered leaders were female. The difference would be narrowed to 8.
Riverclan is the most fair here, no matter whether the unknown-gendered leader was female or male. They have the least amount of difference between tom and she-cat leaders. However throughout all of the clans, toms dominate the leadership. Like Bluefur, they may want to volunteer, but can’t because they have to raise their kits, leaving toms free to become ‘stars’. Besides, Bluestar was forced in many ways, she was told by Goosefeather that she had to stop Thistleclaw and that was the main reason she decided to become leader. As well as this Leafstar was chosen by Firestar to take control. Sharpclaw at that point was very eager and I’m sure he would’ve risen to become leader instead.
Windclan, as one of the most equal clans was founded by a she-cat, but is then followed by 4 toms. Until one of the highest recorded female streaks began (3 she-cats). If Birchstar (who follows after Ivystar) is a she-cat then it’ll be the joint highest streak. Beating Riverclan’s streak of Dovestar, Birchstar and Darkstar but joining with the highest female leader streak to date: Shadowstar, Hollystar, Brindlestar and Lilystar. In case you were wondering, the highest male streak is from Thunderclan of 10 male leaders. Don’t worry I’m not going to list them all.
Shadowclan has had the highest female streak of 4 but hasn’t had a she-cat leader for over 13 years!! Since Dawnstar! Riverclan and Skyclan are the only clans with she-cat leaders at the moment.
But who is your favourite leader? And why? Is it a she-cat or tom? Or to you does sexism not exist in the Warriors world?
Let me know in the comments!
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Nice article, Starstripe!
phew no all out screaming rage in the comments like I might’ve possibly thought could’ve happened 😛You must have done a lot of research to produce this, so good effort Starstripe! This is a really interesting topic, and I do think that maybe there is a little sexism in Warriors, but not as much as humans – because she-cats can be very good fighters as well as males. I’m glad that RiverClan had the least amount of sexist leadership…it’s another reason to like my favourite Clan! But I’d like to point out that just because the leaders were a certain gender doesn’t mean the Clan is sexist; it might just mean that the cat that was best suited to the job was male.
Yes.
“leaders is a poor comparison as it’s based on ability” – so… toms are more able than queens?
It’s OK for male leaders to have a spouse and kittens, not for female leaders. It might not have been said straight out, but for some reason all female leaders “chose” not to have kittens, to the extend of Bluestar giving her kittens to another clan, and one of them dying in the process.
For some reason it’s “obvious” queens cannot be deputies. Why not? What is required that a mother of newborn kittens cannot do?
Are the cats so stupid that they cannot imagine that in two moons the kittens will be weaned and the mother is back to being her ordinary warrior self?
Also, cats can suckle each others kittens. It would be quite OK for a she-cat to leave her kittens to another she-cat and continue being a full-time warrior, if that is needed.
Just imagine a meeting. There’s the leader, the deputy and… some elder warriors. Perhaps the medicine cat. No queens are ever invited, neither are elders. So the cats are ignoring the knowledge and wisdom of half the clan, for some reason that doesn’t make any sense. You could be sick and still be able to tell your opinion about things. You could be suckling and still tell your opinion. You could be cripple and still tell your opinion. One should remember that practically all queens and elders were warriors once. They know what it takes, just as well as any other warrior cat.
The mere idea of that when you become a mother you automatically give up your “old life” and start an existence that is nothing but caring about your kittens. I mean, only the “main character” queens have any role beside being mother in the story, but even then their existence is circling the lives of their kittens.
But, it’s not the fault of the writers of Warriors. It’s this society. We are conditioned to think leaders are male and mothers are only mothers, so that we take these “truths” as “facts”, and explain it as “it’s based on ability” and “it’s natural”. That’s Patriarchy in action for you.
Yeah, good job
The reason queens can’t have kits and be a deputy is that they would get distracted. Have you read Moth Flight’s vision? (spoiler warning) She tries to be a medicine cat and a mother, but she is constantly getting distracted. I assume that the same thing would apply to the deputy position.
Like Squirrelflight!
My fav leader is:
Tc: Owlstar
ShC: Flowerstar (You forgot this one)
Sc: Cloudstar
Wc: Gorsestar
Rc: Riverstar
Tribe: Stoneteller (Half moon)
StarClan: does not exist!
This is one of these articles that is wish I wrote XD
The U.S. has had no female leaders, does that mean that it’s sexi-
o.o
BLUESTAR RULES
And Mistystar (cause she’s her daughter.)
I think that the Clans aren’t only sexist towards she- cats but also towards toms a little! For example, cats were shocked when Fernsong offered to stay in the nursery with Ivypool’s kits. Why shouldn’t a tom raise kits for the queen? Why do fathers of the kits still sleep in the warriors den, and not the nursery with their mate and kits? Fathers raise kits too!
And the she- cat thing. Why was everyone like, Noooooooo Bluefur can’t be deputy just because she was nursing kits? The kits won’t be nursing forever. Why couldn’t she be deputy nursing kits? They don’t need to nurse 24/7. They’d be totally fine if another queen watched them for a bit while Bluefur was organizing patrols.
It’s because of ThunderClan’s sexism that Bluefur gave up her kits!
And it’s totally unfair that people don’t like Daisy and Ferncloud because they just take care of kits. Kits can be a huge pawful! Every queen is probably grateful for their help.
So yeah. I basically agree with everything in this article.
Oh my god, I wrote this comment several months ago- AND I’M ACTUALLY NOT CRINGING AT IT! Wow. That’s a first.
Another thing: Most meds are female, hinting that they’re ‘softer’ or ‘worse at hunting/fighting’. Also, even some of the least expected females give birth, such as Sorreltail!
Great article! One point to add: to me it seems more fair to compare deputy genders instead of leader genders. After all, deputies are chosen, but leaders aren’t (cos deputies become leaders automatically).
I would provide a list of the number of male and female deputies in each Clan, but I haven’t finished all the Warriors books yet, so I wouldn’t know – and I don’t want spoilers from the internet!
Just a reminder, my name is Amberpaw (Amberflight); I changed my name and profile after I sent that comment.
I would argue that having leaders of certain genders just exist is not sexism in itself – if they’re just ending up that way or choosing to be that way, then it’s not “Oh, you’re a she cat? No leadership for you!” If they were not allowed AT ALL because they’re she-cats, that would be sexism.
I think it’s more sexist to assume that being a leader is far more important than a parent – you need the leader to hold it all together, but you need parents to make sure that you still HAVE a clan. Without either, it dies.
And it’s not like all of the she-cats have kits, either. Many actually don’t. But many do. You kind of need some at least having kits, though, otherwise the series is gonna be cut short.
I agree. The results are too skewed for it to be just luck, and what’s even funnier is that cats are actually matriarchal. Yet queens are still written as without control or power. It’s clear human bias showing through. I don’t hate it, but I feel it’s a shame and lost opportunity.