DEMOGRAPHICS OF WOMEN
No official count has been produced on the gender-ratio of men to women in the Freehold, however it is presumed to be more or less equal, with women expected to be a slightly greater proportion. Unofficial estimates vary from 50% to 51.5%. Women are also presumed to make up roughly half of each of Ephyra's social and economic classes, and make up half of the populations split by ethnicity and religion, as is to be expected along the male-female dichotomy.
PERCEPTION OF WOMEN
The way a woman is perceived by others and by society is dependent on four core factors; universal perception of her sex, her social class, her present expected role, and her individual actions influencing honour. The second of these can dictate the social value of the third, whilst the fourth can undermine the privileges and value of both. The first however can be regarded as the foundations for the perception of women, what women are inherently. All other factors are modification.
The perception of women as a sex in Ephyra would likely see accusations of sexism from other societies self-styled as more progressive, but it would be a critical error to assume that these judgements were entirely invented, applied, and enforced by men. It is in fact the women of Ephyra who tend to reinforce traditional attitudes to a degree considered more than men, for it is they who raise the children of the citizen families. Some of these perceptions have biological backing, and others do not. Women are the weaker sex in Ephyra, regarded by many as applying both in body and mind. Others contest the supposed lesser intelligence of women, postulating instead expertise in other perhaps less-public fields. Despite this, the innate souls of women are regarded as equal to that of men. Women as a sex can be broadly seen as nurturing, caring, aesthetically beautiful, manipulative, deceitful, loving, passive, seductive, servile, important, and with an innate role and duty as the mothers of the future.
All women in the Freehold belong to one of five social classes; Ephyral citizen, Lykosian semi-citizen, foreign immigrant, free provincial, or a slave. It is the first of these which is of highest social importance, but key to note is that full Ephyral citizens form a minority in the total population of the Freehold, and even including the Lykosian semi-citizens places more than half of the total residents of Ephyra into non-citizen classes.
The Ephyral woman, one who is born to a citizen father in legitimate marriage to a woman of either Ephyral or Lykosian status, is of the greater importance. The perceptions of her as a woman are framed around the social institutions most relevant to her, the family and marriage. The physical weakness of women, variable perceptions of lesser intelligence, but more importantly her sex's monopoly on wombs and the carrying of children, has resulted in women of citizen birth having long been placed under the protection of physically superior and socially powerful male family members, with key priority being her father. The women of Lykosian birth often reside in a family structure imitating of this, but without the same legal power afforded to male citizen household heads. In the role of a daughter, a woman is expected to be absolutely obedient to ensure that his duty of protecting her is not undermined by the woman herself. When a virgin of sexual maturity, a woman's honour and value is arguably at its height. In her mid to late teens she will be expected to marry a man selected by her father. Entering marriage as a virgin, her personal honour cannot be questioned in the sexual regard, and she can adopt the duties of a wife and mother legitimate children. Obedience to her father remains paramount, as he reserves the power to divorce her from her husband. Deference to her husband is nominal, and her obligations to him are one of bearing children and maintaining the household in a domestic sphere whilst he does so in a public one. In the role of a mother, her duty to her children is to nurture and raise them, particularly her daughters in the fashion of her own upbringing.
To be a citizen woman is also to have legal protections far in excess of her counterparts lower in the social hierarchy, aimed at protecting her physical self and her honour from external harm. The murder or rape of a virgin citizen woman is amongst the most heinous crimes imaginable in the Ephyral state, for which the penalty is always death. It is by a matter of law that only citizen women can be considered to have been raped, as the crime is regarded as against her honour as a woman and the daughter and husband of a citizen. Whilst the act of physical abuse consists of a crime in and of itself, and is regarded severely, it is pale in comparison to the violation of a modest and honourable woman. Furthermore, whilst marriage places a woman in a limited state of authority under her husband (for he lacks any legal power), there is no toleration of domestic abuse by her family, as her legal birth-family guardian is fully empowered to divorce her for her own benefit. Key to note however is that the physical chastisement of a wife for transgressions within the family is considered acceptable when executed properly, but is far more controversial than the perceived necessary corporal punishment of children.
Next to Ephyral women and Lykosian women who marry Ephyral men, the remaining two free social classes of immigrant and provincial are viewed with far less importance and value by the citizenry. Where the women of Ephyral class, and to an extent Lykosian class, both have innate honour derived from position and family to be considerate of and respect, women of immigrant and provincial class have none. By citizen women, they are viewed as base, disreputable, even offensive, owing to their barbarian and non-citizen origins. For citizen men, they are valid targets for sexual conquest. Whilst the only legitimate intercourse to be had with a citizen woman is in marriage, for even consensual sex with her outside of marriage constitutes either an act of criminal seduction or adultery, this is dependent on a measure of person and familial honour already judged absent in the foreigner or conquered subject. They cannot by matter of law be considered raped, although physical acts against them constitute crimes in and of themselves, they are punished nowhere near as heavily. Many are regarded as natural slaves, fit for prostitution or servitude. Social elevation is only really possible through the elevation of the men in their family - although women of these classes can become concubines to socially and economically superior men which, though not increasing their status, does afford them greater protection.
Slave women and slave men find themselves in a similar boat. Entirely unfree, absent even the basic rights of peoples afforded to the free non-citizen classes, the life of a slave woman can vary in its quality. Some fortunate slave women find themselves the handmaidens to citizen mistresses, who greatly prefer to keep their servants unmolested and in good health. The relationship of the master and slave here can be more akin to employer and employee, with some slaves even being given a stipend, and even with elements of friendship and familiarity. The less fortunate find their master to be a corporate entity, not an individual, most likely a brothel whose only interest in its slave employees is that they are attractive.
The individual actions of a woman can impact her perception by her peers with regards to the social consciousness of her honour. A woman's honour is informed mostly by refraining from action, and there is little a woman can affirmatively do to elevate it other than dutiful and obedient performance of her expected roles. In action however, a woman can incur subtraction or total obliteration of her honour. The most common way this is done, as well as one of the most final, is adultery. By allowing another man where only her husband has the right to be, a woman's most esteemed virtues of chastity, modesty, deference, and piety are shattered. Woman found to have committed adultery are divorced in dishonour, and will never remarry. In the most extreme of cases, her own birth family might expel her, freeing her from both the authority of her paternal guardian but also all the protections that role provided her, leaving her destitute and without honourable opportunity. Women who obey their fathers, marry as expected, provide children in that marriage, and are faithful and dutiful in raising them and furthering the position and status of her birth and marriage family by refraining from any action which can bring dishonour upon them or her, are to be considered honourable. They are chaste, pious, and obedient.
It is however important to distinguish voluntary forfeit of honour from the perception of having been dishonoured. To have been dishonoured by another is to have had a quality maintained by inaction stolen through forced action by another. A key example of this in Ephyra would be the concept of rape, which as opposed to adultery, is an attack on the honour of the woman and not her voluntary forfeit of it. For a person to have been dishonoured by another is not them lacking honour, and fault lies entirely with the individual who dishonoured them. In myth and legends, it was common for women so dishonoured to reclaim it from the honour 'thief' by killing their assailant, or in some legends themselves.
Whilst on the surface this may seem limiting and even dominating, the complex social web of Ephyra allows women considerable freedom and opportunity, informing their father's on desired choices for a husband, finding meaning and value in their roles as a wife and mother and developing genuine affection with their husbands, and the elevated self-respect and esteem from being so evidently above women fallen from honour or those who never had any to start with. Neglected from this document focusing on women are all the obligations and responsibilities shouldered by men in regards to themselves and their women, and all the methods by which they too can fall from honour and into disgrace. The Freehold's citizens are a people who place the concept of responsibility above that of rights, and derive meaning from work and duty over frivolity and indulgence.
DRESS OF WOMEN
The dress of women can be described aesthetically in three words; loose, long, and light. In purpose, its sole role is to present civility and modesty. Women of Ephyra wear a variant of the male tunic that exists in two distinct forms. These dresses are formed from sheets, folded and pinned as much as sewn, to provide the shape and style of their clothing.
The Rhyosian tunic is the most common, and subject to the highest potential variation and modification. In the basics across all forms, it is a single wide and tall sheet folded laterally around the wearer, with the front and back pinned at the shoulders to form a dress suspended from that location, extending down to the feet or ankles. With respect to variety, this can have a horizontal overfold forming a 'blouse' over the breasts by folding the top third of the sheet down before placing it around the wearer. Alternatively no such overfold can be added, though the thin and light nature of the linen used may leave a female wearer vulnerable to breast exposure through the sheet. Whilst traditionally left open at the side opposite to the lateral fold, relying on weight and volume of material to conceal the body from ankle to arm, many women opt to either permanently sew this side or use pins to fasten it for reasons of modesty. The tunic can be belted beneath the breasts to pull the material in, and over which excess material can be pulled to form a secondary blousing effect.
Controversially the tunic can be worn single-shoulder, either by neglecting to pin the front and back at the shoulder on the side of the lateral fold, or by orienting the pin off of the shoulder and onto the arm (this is considered counter-modest but not outright immodest). Even more controversial and bordering on the immodest are low necklines, relying on pinning the tunic in a manner that creates excess central fabric, potentially exposing as low as the centre-breast (whilst no serious exposure can take place upright, leaning over or reclining can expose one or both breasts); shorter length of skirt, for in practice anything up to the knee is considered sufficiently modest, but with full length preferred; or slits cut into the material to expose parts of the leg whilst retaining modest length.
The most immodest variant of this style of tunic is the one legally mandated for registered prostitutes when applying their trade; the skirt must descend no lower than the knees. This indicates them as physically easier to gain sexual access to, representative of their behaviour and trade as allowing entry for payment. As a cultural consequence, those wearing short skirts are presumed to be figures of disrepute and sexually accessible; even the more rebellious elements of women in Ephyra do not tempt that judgement.
The Iosorian tunic remains the less popular choice, but is widely regarded as more modest. Formed from two sheets sewn up each side except for several inches off of the top, the top edge of the front and back are pinned in place along the arms of the wearer to again provide suspension from this point. The tunic is then tightly belted and fastened in between the breasts and waist, creating a sleeved alternative to the Rhyosian and considerably less modification opportunities.
Over the top of this, a secondary layer can be worn and is done so mostly in public and by older and married women. Resembling a very basic Rhyosian tunic, it is sewn instead of folded but similarly pinned at the shoulders, adding a second layer for modesty, insulation, and protection, as well as to signify aforementioned status of age or marriage. This dress can however be worn independent of a tunic, as was done in the height of the Mantaran Empire (a predecessor Selian-state to Ephyra) as it culturally evolved. As a result, the wearing of the dress without any under-tunic is considered the Mantaran style, and typically done more by the wealthier citizen women.
Younger girls wear these tunics in reduced sizes, and the tunics can also be adjusted to accommodate pregnancy.
The cloak of the citizen woman presents her as such, worn from the age of fourteen onward, marking her as marriageable. Fastened at one shoulder and worn across the body in its more typical style by young, unwed women, older women reconfigure it to be pulled atop their head and wrapped around the otherwise skin-plenty upper arms and shoulders of their Rhyosian tunic.
In undergarments, women wear variably an item resembling either the bottom piece of a two-piece bikini, or something more resembling shorts. From about nine years old, girls wear a breast-band around their chest to limit breast growth, aiming for the cultural beauty standard of smaller breasts. This stops being worn by girls-turned-women between the ages of fifteen and twenty, from which they will not wear any garment equivalent to a bra save for personal exercise, swimwear, or until the age of fifty-five to sixty when the breast-band is worn again.
The most typical footwear for women are sandals laced up the leg to the bottom of the knee. In the home they go barefoot. It is also polite to be barefoot in the homes of others, to respect their home as a home and demonstrate oneself to be comfortable within it, and accepting of the roles of guest to the host.
Cosmetically, make-up is applied but in a limited fashion. The enhancement of natural beauty should be its purpose, not total fabrication. Excessive make up is again associated with prostitutes who desire to look as attractive as possible for the attention of men. Citizen women of modesty wear makeup to better represent the breeding of their house than for attention. Common is the use of light blush of the cheeks, and various forms of eyeliner.
Women of Ephyra grow their hair to considerable lengths, binding it in marriage but leaving it long in virginity. In body-hair, women strive to be hairless even in the pubic region to preserve the youth of maidenhood.
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN
The emphasis on women maintaining the private household sphere, and men the public political sphere, has produced a social attitude highly critical of female involvement in the labour force. This however is more an ideal than a practice, as women working is often necessary for lower-income families be they of citizen or non-citizen background. For citizen women, work done is whenever possible restricted to labour which cannot be regarded as dishonourable, however for some women such selection is a luxury ill-afforded.
The concept of actual 'work' for women is comprised of their domestic duties in maintaining the household in a more proactive fashion than her husband, and the bearing and raising of their children.
When women must work commercially, it is preferred they do so in some kind of family business so that they remain supervised and protected by the men of their family. Work in which citizen women must engage with unrelated men is considered unfitting, but for pragmatic reasons has not been judged outright dishonourable. Professional careers for women however do exist, but are mostly filled by women of non-citizen background. For citizen women to partake in them is not unheard of, but not common, and not without social stigma.
Less of a job and more of a public duty is to become a priestess in any of the cults to the gods of Ephyra. Qualifications and esteem vary by priesthood, but cults like the Virgins of Lysharar (a celibate order devoted to the goddess of the hearth and home) are of great religious and political significance.
Jobs held by women of non-citizen class, who are in a sense liberated from maintaining a perception of honour, are primarily focused around goods and services work, such as waitresses, shop attendants, or more public work like secretaries. Citizen women have been known to hold these jobs, almost exclusively from the lowest economic classes, but it is controversial. More professional careers that can be pursued by women include nursing and other medical enterprises and teachers. For citizen women these last two are considered to be the most acceptable, as they comprise a public service to the state as well as playing to what are perceived to be innate female strengths.
By far however the lowest and most disreputable occupations for a woman is any that violates modesty. Actresses and other performers are considered little better than prostitutes for making themselves spectacles to the public vision. Whilst the profession itself can be quite lucrative financially, it is a permanent and critical blow to how she will be perceived.
There remain jobs of course that women are not only discouraged but disallowed from occupying, due to their centrality within the public sphere. Neither law enforcement nor military personal can be women due to elevated risk to them both partially caused and impacted by inferior physical capabilities. Membership in any male priesthoods is also forbidden for the same reason that men are disallowed from female priesthoods. Women also cannot run for any political office and become a Senator, or indeed vote for anyone who can. This is not an exhaustive list of prohibited occupations, but serves as an example of the line between the private and public and the place of women in the former.
As of the modern era, the entire idea of women holding jobs is regarded as a poor reflection on the men related to these women for failing to successfully provide for them. It is a point of pride for a man to boast that his wife and daughters have never had to work outside the home, and indeed a point of pride for women to point to the husbands and fathers who enable that. The majority of citizen women however do not belong to the wealth margin that mandates they work, performing instead their domestic duties as a daughter, wife, and mother.