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They didn’t see it as such. None of them did. But their required tasks, whether old or young, remained the same: cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, clothes-making, laundry … There was honor in such tasks—pride and good work to be found in them. But not when every single one of the females here was expected to do it.
In Chapter 2, Rhysand supports Cassian as he attempts to provide new opportunities to Illyrian females. Traditionally, Rhysand notes, Illlyrian females have been expected to attend to the “drudgery” of household tasks, from “child-rearing” to “cleaning.” Their culture highly values strength in combat, yet females are denied the opportunity to prove themselves in battle. While the males prepare for war, females are expected to wait behind and maintain their households. Illyrian society, then, is highly patriarchal in its values and customs.
Cassian, however, feels that combat training will help to empower Illyrian females by teaching them how to defend themselves. He orders Devlon to mandate two hours of combat training for females every morning, but his efforts are met with strong pushback from both males and females. As Rhysand notes, many females feel that there is “honor” in their household work, and they take pride in their ability to support the males in their family. Nevertheless, he feels strongly that females should have the right to make decisions for themselves. While some might choose to stick to their traditional roles, the decision, he argues, must be theirs alone.
The slender young female behind the pine counter was already standing still. Watching him. Cassian noticed the scars on her wings first. The careful, brutal scars down the center tendons. Nausea roiled in his gut, even as he offered a smile and strode toward the polished counter. Clipped. She’d been clipped.
In Chapter 8, Cassian seeks supplies in the Windhaven Camp. While searching for a store owned by an Illyrian male named Proteus, he instead finds a young Illyrian female named Emerie watching over the store. In the course of his conversation with her, he learns that Emerie is the daughter of Proteus, and that she has taken over the store in the aftermath of her father’s death. At first, Cassian is surprised, as Illyrian society is highly sexist in its values and, as a result, females are expected to remain at home, supporting their families through cooking and cleaning. While he is impressed by Emerie’s courage in defying the norms of her culture, he nevertheless notes the “brutal scars” that run down her back. Emerie, like many other females in Illyria, has been “clipped.” Her wings, he notes, have been cut off by her family in order to prevent her from learning how to fly, underscoring the extreme lengths the males will go to in order to maintain their power over females. Emerie’s story attests both to the serious obstacles faced by Illyrian females and the growing desire for change.
“It will be a good sign,” Cassian said at last, “when there are twenty girls out there” [...]
This mission of Cassian’s, hatched years ago and perhaps close to fruition … It went beyond bets for him. Went down to a wound that had never really healed. I slung my arm around Cassian’s shoulders.
“Small steps, brother.”
In Chapter 26, Rhysand and Cassian return to the Windhaven camp to oversee their project to empower Illyrian females through combat training. This project, which is particularly important to Cassian because his mother suffered profoundly due to the sexist beliefs that are common in Illyrian society, has been met with serious resistance by some Illyrians, including Devlon, leader of the Windhaven Camp. Nevertheless, Devlon has kept to his promise to offer early morning combat training to females, suggesting that there is still hope for real change.
To the disappointment of Rhysand and Cassian, only a few females attend the first training meeting. Though they were hoping for a greater number of females to participate, they nevertheless accept this small sign of progress. Rhysand, who understands how important this project is to Cassian, notes that these “small steps” might lead to greater changes in Illyrian society. Progress, the novel suggests, is often incremental and requires concessions. Still, Rhysand and Cassian feel confident that more females will take advantage of this new opportunity in the future, reflecting their optimistic outlook.
