History Main / SlidingScaleofGenderInEquality

* ''[[MegaManX Irregular Hunter X]]'' - the only female character in the game is a navigator that helps X in coordinating the robot masters but plays no significant part of the story.

* ''DeathNote'' is more of a level 3.75. Apparently women aren't as smart as men. Even if they are, [[{{Chickification}} they're too gullible and naive to understand.]] [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily Girls would rather be in love than to be feminist!]]

* In ''{{Claymore}}'', only women can become the titular badasses, and the few men in the series are either evil, ineffectual, or both.

* JohnCarpenter's ''The Thing''. No female characters whatsoever. This may be TruthInTelevision, however; there aren't many women stationed in Antarctica. The commentary for the movie reveals there weren't really any females on the production crew either.

* {{Kaiji}}. There is one woman on the show, but she only appears for one scene in one episode and says no more than two lines.
* [[MegaManX Irregular Hunter X]] - the only female character in the game is a navigator that helps X in coordinating the robot masters but plays no significant part of the story.
* DeadliestWarrior - Being a show about historical warriors battling to the death that's RatedMForManly, it's to be expected. Briefly became a type 4 in one episode of season 2 (CIA vs. KGB), where both sides had one female operative, and one of them ([[spoiler:The KGB]]) kicked quite a bit of ass.

* The {{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/SmallGods'' (since it's about a church that doesn't allow female priests).

* {{Gor}}!
* {{FATAL}} is here, among [[SoBadItsHorrible its many other flaws]] (including the very fact that it exists).
* TheEyeOfArgon

* {{Fansadox}}

* Most Mario games, with Peach as a perfect DistressedDamsel. However, ''SuperPrincessPeach'' is an inversion.

* Robert E. Howard's ConanTheBarbarian stories generally alternate between this and level 2 above, though there are notable exceptions in Belit and Valeria, who are treated as Conan's equals, and superior to the average man. Same with Zula from Conan The Destroyer. Although she needed rescued toward the beginning she more than manages to hold her own in combat with and against men. Female monarchs are about level 4: they have the same level of power and influence as their male counterparts, but story considerations often cast them in the role of damsel-in-distress. It goes with the time period (both when it's supposed to have happened and when it was written).

* FistOfTheNorthStar, definitely.

* ''{{DeathNote}}'' is more of a level 3.75. Apparently women aren't as smart as men. Even if they are, [[{{Chickification}} they're too gullible and naive to understand.]] [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily Girls would rather be in love than to be feminist!]]

* {{Gundam}} series directed by YoshiyukiTomino tend to go here (we're looking at you, TheShrikeTeam). In some cases, those by other directors backslide toward level 3.

* StreetFighter belongs to either this level or Level 5. Though the female characters are as equally capable of fighting as the male characters, they are still a lot fewer compared to the male cast.

* FullmetalAlchemist ensures a fairly stable gender equality ratio, as men and women are frequently shown to be equally competent in terms of tactical and physical fighting skill. For every badass State Alchemist like Roy Mustang, there's an equally skilled BadassNormal like Riza Hawkeye.
* {{Fire Emblem}} fits right in here. The main protagonist is male more often than not, but there are quite a few women who take that role as well. Story-wise, there are as many females in positions of power as males, and functionally, the genders are equal in combat. Fore every uber-powered male character you run into, there's an uber-powered female somewhere (e.g., Ike and Hector are regarded as powerhouses, but so are Titania and Tanith).
* {{Star Wars}} (the original trilogy, anyway) gave us Princess Leia, who was just as good at shooting people as any of the menfolk, and despite being captured on several occasions, always made her captors regret it, making her much more than a DistressedDamsel.
* StarWarsTheCloneWars: Do I have to explain?! Look at the characters!

* DungeonsAndDragons, in statistical terms anyway. It can differ according to the setting, with allowances for the fact that it's mostly medieval-level societies. {{Planescape}}, {{Eberron}}, and ForgottenRealms are probably the most egalitarian, with plenty of powerful, competent women who hold the same roles men do.

** To be fair, most Maho Shoujo is simply the girl version of Super Hero stories. Most girls are either not human (which explains why they are special ala SuperMan, or simply the circumstances lead to only magical girls in the main cast a la Nanoha, where there are magical boys but due to the circumstances we don't see them doing much).

*** To be fair, in the manga (which is the original source material) Mamoru gets his own attack and crystal making him basically equal to the other Senshi (excluding Moon, who is on her own level). In the Anime, he gets a transformation sequence (albeit short) as well.

* {{The Wheel Of Time}} is halfway between this and level 5. The Female characters are either equal to the men, or superior. Female characters often beat their male counterparts up, though sometimes it's both of them.

** TheWheelOfTime is all over the shop on this. It could be regarded as level 5 because both genders are equally stupid. The women ''are'' CloserToEarth, but also tend to be nagging shrews, misandrists, [[FetishFuel end up in chains with some man lording it over them]], or all three. Men, on the other hand, are all [[strike: woolheaded lummoxes]] idiots and deserve to be abused. Witness Matt being raped at knifepoint, [[RapeIsOKWhenItsFemaleOnMale which is apparently considered hilarious]].

* Lovable Weirdos in NationStates falls into this.

In this trope, women often prove their superiority and are always the protagonists. Men, while still competent (usually), are only supporters at best. TruthInTelevision when it comes to DoubleStandards against men.

At this level it looks like both genders are equal. [[OrIsIt Or Are They?]]. Then why do only males have all the cool and most offensive powers and equipment, while their female teammates do things like providing first aid, being MissionControl, working in the laboratory and you would be damned if you will ever see any of them in an actual fight? And even if they go into a fight, they end up either defeated easily, insignificant in the overall victory, [[DesignatedGirlFight or end up fighting another girl]]. Every unlucky ActionGirl that lives in a world set at this level will suffer from {{Chickification}} and eventually turn into or be revealed as a FauxActionGirl. At this level, men and women are equal, but [[StayInTheKitchen some things are still a man's job]]. [[TruthinTelevision Truth in Television]] for now.

Stories that portray both genders as an equal or are at last trying to balance TheChick and DistressedDamsel with ActionGirl or subvert/justify them fit here. Both men and women may be protagonists. It's almost impossible to achieve a perfect balance of both genders, especially in stories aimed for one specific audience (like {{Shonen}} or {{Shoujo}}) - sometimes girls don't get full respect only because story is just too focused on boys and vice versa. That's why many of the examples here are works that, while is still impossible to tell whether they portray both genders as completely equal, are just more balanced than level 4 or 6.

In this trope, women often prove their superiority and are always the protagonists. Men, while still competent (usually), are only supporters at best.

* While ''{{Bleach}}'' is more focused on Ichigo and we have two {{Distressed Damsel}}s, there's justification why both [[spoiler: Rukia and Orihime]] aren't doing anything while being imprisoned and we have Yoruichi and Soi-Fon, two powerful female shinigami who proved themselves in a fight with very strong enemies.
** Another woman, [[spoiler: adult form Nel]], almost killed [[spoiler:Noitoira, an Arrancar who gave Kenpachi a hard fight]] in a fight.
** Vizards' power rank is based on how long he/she can stay with his/her masks on. The first time [[spoiler:Ichigo]] lasted three minutes, while Mashiro took ''15 hours'' to reach her limits.

** To break the main group, in the first season and part of the second, there was Aang (male/bender), Katara (female/bender), and Sokka (male/normal). In the second season they pick up Toph (female bender) and the group stays as that until the third season. Then, halfway through that season, finally finishing his HeelFaceTurn, Zuko (male/bender) joins and several episodes later helps bring in Suki (female/normal). That brings it to an even representation in overall numbers and combat abilities for both genders.

* ''[[YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' - Most of the time a girl wins in Duel Monsters, it's an unimportant duel that we see only in a cut-scene, and those on which the plot is focused and have been won by girls can be counted on one hand.
** Similiarly in ''[[YuGiOhGX GX]]'', where Asuka is considered among the seven best duelists in Duel Academy, but we see her having a victory in a plot-important duel only twice.

* In YuGiOh 5D's, you have a Faux Action Boy and two Action Girls who actually show they can win duels.

* ''DragonBall'' falls under this level as well. The female characters are however competent and most of them are great fighters, but become less significant as the series goes on and make room for the male main characters. Unfortunately, all of the characters aside from [[BoringInvivincibleHero Goku]] got less significant as well.

* ''DragonBall'' falls under this level as well. The female characters are however competent and most of them are great fighters, but become less significant as the series goes on and make room for the male main characters.

* ''TUGS'' kinda falls between this level and level 4.
* ''DeathNote'' is more of a level 3.75. Apparently women aren't as smart as men. Even if they are, [[{{Chickification}} they're too gullible and naive to understand.]] [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily Girls would rather be in love than to be feminist!]]

* ''Arthur'' is this level but could occasionally be a Level 5.

* {{''TUGS''}} kinda falls between this level and level 4.

* ''DragonBall'' is generally under this level, but the female characters, as well as a lot of other characters, got less significant as the series went on.

* DragonBall is generally under this level, but the female characters, as well as a lot of other characters, got less significant screen time as the series went on.

* Terry Brooks' ''The Sword of {{Shannara}}'', probably because it was just a ripoff of ''LordOfTheRings''; it should be noted the next book has the world saved by a girl and in the third one of the trilogy, one of the protagonists is a girl.

* ''DragonAge'' actually mentions that men and women are pretty much equal in Ferelden. Nobody seems to find anything odd about a woman leading the grey wardens, Queen Anora is a great political ally, and in the dwarven kingdom of Orzrammar, the female dwarf warden is named heir to the throne along with her older brother (And ''because'' she and her brother are removed, that's why the SuccessionCrisis happens).