The Gate to Women's Country

Book: The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper


The Gate to Women's Country (TGWC)  is a complex & cunning story that takes a look at the motivations of women and men.

In a time about three hundred years after man and their weapons destroyed life as we know it, TGWC shows us how the survivor's descendants live by relating periods of Stavia's life. Stavia lives in a town where women and men live apart.  On their 5th birthday, boys are taken through the gate to live with their warrior fathers. On their 15th birthday, the boys choose whether to stay with their warrior fathers and become warriors or go back through the gate to women's country to become servitors (just as it sounds).  A majority of the boys stay with their warrior fathers (ex. 99 to 95 out of 100).

Much knowledge was lost after the great devastation so each women must devote her life to continuous learning. We find that the boys who return to be servitors are provided with an academic education, while the warriors aren't... the most they are provided with are romance novels to occupy and inspire them.
 
The Gate to Women's Country is told from three points of view:
1) a play, meant to be a satire of their society's past and present
2) Stavia in her Thirties
3) Stavia growing up, mainly ages ten, thirteen and early twenties

As we read about Stavia's life and read through the play we are made to understand the culture, norms and minds of men and women. We also get glimpses of the machinations employed to keep their civilization going.

Tepper lays sugar-less examples of how one woman can be coldly calculating yet caring, and vexingly stupid yet intelligent. While Tepper does portray well rounded men (smart, caring, protective and deadly when he needs to be) she makes us believe those men are rare. The other men are shown as the quintessential male chauvinists with belligerent and/or selfish natures. TGWC is not a man bashing book, but it's not man-friendly. It's not friendly to women either, although I am sure both sexes can see the truth in what is written.

In the end, when Stavia and the reader finally discover the reason for the subterfuge and machination in her society, I found I was highly impressed with the Women's Council (effectively the ruling body of Women's Country). Even with their "flaws" (read the book to find out exactly what they are) these women are dedicated to pursuing their goal.  A goal that will take generations of dedication, grit, and steel nerves to accomplish. It's not that the women have cold blood, they hurt from the ruthless decisions they have to make for the greater good, but through it all they keep their eyes on the prize. These women take one along with the team to eventually win the game.  The reason for the goal is laid throughout the whole book.

While I'm impressed with the women staying the course, I'm reminded of old man Warner from Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, "Seventy-seventh year I been in the lottery... Seventy-seventh time." As I said, their goal will take generations to accomplish, about a thousand years optimistically. The women making the hard decisions have to hand pick their fellow shot-callers and eventual successors. Three hundred years of pursuit so far and these women are still staying the course because they all believe it's for the greater good, just as old man Warner did. However, in reading The Lottery we find that the greater good is relative... is the greater good relative in The Gate to women's Country?