History Main / GenderRarityValue

* In ''MassEffect'', the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogans]] were hit by a DepopulationBomb that causes 99.9% of births to be stillborn (amazingly, this actually ''stabilizes'' the Krogan birthrate). As a result, females who can reliably bring larger litters to term are considered extremely valuable, and to prevent themselves from becoming pawns of the tribes, women have segregated themselves into single-sex clans. One planet is mentioned to have once been the main base of a notorious female Krogan warlord, who was one of the last women around who could reliably bear living offspring - and who parlayed that into a position of enormous power, gathering a literal armada of male Krogan to her banner.
** Also the Salarians. The race is 90% male, but they rarely wield poltical power. The females wield the highest ranks through being clan matriarchs. This is subverted for the Salarians, however, because the females closely regulate the gender of their children, enforcing the 90/10 ratio.

* In ''MassEffect'', the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogans]] were hit by a DepopulationBomb that rendered 95% of all females sterile, and/or incapable of bearing children to term. One planet is mentioned to have once been the main base of a notorious female Krogan pirate, who was one of the last women around who could reliably bear living offspring - and who parlayed that into a position of enormous power, gathering a literal armada of male Krogan to her banner. (Eventually, they were annihilated by a Turian fleet, as I recall.)
** Also the Salarians. The race is 90% male, but they rarely wield poltical power. The females wield the highest ranks through being clan matriarchs. This is subverted for the Salarians, however, because the females closely regulate the gender of their children, enforcing the 90/10 ratio.

* The Gerudo in ''TheLegendOfZelda: [[TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' have only one male child every one hundred years. That male child becomes their king. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready This doesn't go well.]]
** For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past ten years, it's Ganondorf.

**** This troper also has a theory on the Chinese mindset which he is [[hottip:going to hottip to save space:, and also because it's somewhat politically incorrect. But what I, Tropers/SlvstrChung, have noticed over the past 27 years of being an American-born Chinese, is that it seems to be a virtue in the Chinese value system (and, thus, in the value system of any nation in its cultural shadow, which is all of them) to be able to focus on a desired goal to the ''complete'' exclusion of all other considerations. This helps explain the bad-Asian-driver stereotype: when you're focused exclusively on your steering wheel, you lose all sense of situational awareness, which is the very foundation of good driving. It explains the preponderance of Asian {{Stage Mom}}s, so focused on the great things they want for their children that they never stop to ask their kids what ''they'' want. And, when you're focused exclusively on the desirability of sons, that blocks out any ability to consider the disadvantages of not having daughters.]]

* The two warring factions in the GirlsLove SpaceOpera ''{{Angels2200}}'' appear to have chosen opposite versions of this trope following the male GenderCide, with the Colonials opting for version one with males in command positions while the [[LadyLand Terrans]] appear to have opted for version two since none of their males have ever appeared at all. (Not surprising, considering the Terrans created the [[TheVirus Gendercide plague]] in the first place.) One Terran pilot claims that her father didn't die in the plague he abandoned his family to become a playboy afterwards

* The Olympians in JackChalker's ''WellWorld'' series are an offshoot of humanity deliberately engineered to fulfill {{The Dragon}}'s harem fantasies which combine inbred female loyalty and subservience imperatives with nigh-irresistable male sexual prowess and a low male birth rate to reduce future competition. Then he gets killed. 200 years later it's the ''males'' who are kept in [[LadyLand communally owned harems]] because after his death the women immediately decided that the best way to protect, coddle, and serve their rare and precious males was to put them in guarded creches and raise them to be little more than gigalos and sperm donors.

# The rare gender will lose all status (perhaps even virtual slavery) because they're little more than extremely valuable breeding stock that has to be protected to keep the species going.

* The two warring factions in the GirlsLove SpaceOpera ''[[Angels2200]]'' appear to have chosen opposite versions of this trope following the male GenderCide, with the Colonials opting for version one with males in command positions while the [[LadyLand Terrans]] appear to have opted for version two since none of their males have ever appeared at all. (Not surprising, considering the Terrans created the [[TheVirus Gendercide plague]] in the first place.) One Terran pilot claims that her father didn't die in the plague he abandoned his family to become a playboy afterwards

# The rare gender will lose all status and wield little or no power because they're little more than extremely valuable breeding stock that has to be protected to keep the species going.

# The rare gender will attain high status (perhaps even virtual godhood) and wield great political power because they're the only ones who can keep the species viable.

* The two warring factions in the GirlsLove SpaceOpera ''Angels2200'' appears to have chosen different versions versions of this trope following the male [[GenderCide]], with the Colonials opting for version one (Gender Rarity = High Status) while the [[LadyLand Terrans]] opted for version two. Not surprising, considering the Terrans created the [[TheVirus Gendercide plague]] in the first place.

* The two warring factions in the GirlsLove SpaceOpera ''Angels2200'' appears to have chosen different versions versions of this trope following the male [[Gendercide]], with the Colonials opting for version one (Gender Rarity = High Status) while the [[LadyLand Terrans]] opted for version two. Not surprising, considering the Terrans created the GenderCide plague in the first place.

# The rare gender will attain high status (perhaps even virtual godhood) and wield great political power because they're the only ones who can keep the race going.
# The rare gender will lose all status and wield little or no power because they're little more than extremely valuable breeding stock that has to be protected to keep the race going.

Note that the former is more likely in limited-fertility scenarios and a LadyLand or NoWomansLand is almost inevitable in the case of the latter. And don't forget that RapeIsOkWhenItIsFemaleOnMale.

# The rare gender will lose all status and become the property of the more common gender, wielding little or no power because they're little more than extremely valuable breeding stock that has to be protected to keep the race going.

The world has just been rocked by a near-{{Gendercide}}. Nearly the entire male or female population has been killed by TheVirus or something similar. Alternatively, a particular people would be a OneGenderRace were it not for the occasional exception of a male/female being born. Another variation is that it isn't the gender itself that's rare, but that a particular gender may become infertile save for a tiny minority. In this case, [[CaptainObvious the trope still applies since what makes the other gender so important (procreation) is still rare and hard-to-find]].

# The rare gender will attain high status, becoming virtual gods to the more common gender and wield great political power because they're the ones keeping the race going.
# The rare gender will lose all status and become the property of the more common gender, wielding little or no power because they're little more than extremely valuable breeding stock.

In the case of the latter, we can get a LadyLand or NoWomansLand scenario put into place. And don't forget that RapeIsOkWhenItIsFemaleOnMale.

There are other possibilities and variations, but these are the two you can most easily expect. Essentially, however, this trope is about the treatment of a gender due to their relative rarity compared to the other.

# The rare gender will attain high status, becoming virtual gods to the surviving gender. Wielding great political power, based on the fact they're the ones who keep the race going.
# The rare gender will lose all status, becoming virtual slaves or a "protected species" to the surviving gender. Wielding little to no power and used as breeding stock in the name of protecting the species.

**** Male children were preferred in the past as they are the only forces (or the better force) that keep the family alive (i.e. from hunting, doing hard physical work...), and hence, they're given more political power over women. Furthermore, when you married your daughter, she pretty much belonged to the groom's family, and thus, she would not be able to do anything to support you in old age. This trend kept up into middle - early modern age, and hence political and social systems generally valued male over female, and males were able to receive proper education, a better future and hold certain power over their female counterpart. Therefore, back then, the only good thing that came from having a daughter was pretty much the money that the groom's family paid (which also explained why people were eager to marry their daughter young back then). Nowadays, as the society becomes more equalized, it's understandable that Chinese are beginning to have female children. Besides, the increasing trend of having female children only occurs in the urban area, where the society is more or less equalized, in the rural area however, males still hold a certain power over female.