Women in Shadowrun

I've been discussing and getting some great feedback on women in Shadowrun. So I'd like to bring this conversation to a site more conducive to a proper discussion.

The previous posts after the jump.
This was the first post:

I've seen some interesting comments on Tumblr over the last year or so that I've been sharing my thoughts as a Shadowrun writer. I'm not quite sure I had a stance on women as NPCs, especially as major characters, when I started. However, I feel like I am not alone in wanting more recurring and accessible characters at the low and mid ranges, but I am torn between the desire for diversity at the top vs. the "realities" of the game where certain biases and institutional restrictions exist. However, as a fellow writer said over a much less significant issue, we're the world creators—We can do whatever we want. What do you think?

Followed by this:

First, thanks for the feedback. I greatly appreciate it. It's also something I've been mentioning to prompt on the official forums, but I haven't yet. :(

As one of several dozen current authors, I can only speak for myself in these instances. However, I agree with many of you on specifics that I have seen in your replies and in your own tumblrs. I agree that there hasn't been the best or most consistent portrayal of female runners, especially the JackPointers, from author to author.

I think that there is significant improvement and for women's prominence and importance in Shadowrun occurring. I wrote the DeeCee chapter of Conspiracy Theories, and one of the things that I did not even realize until after the book was published was how many women were featured as prominent or importance NPCs—the President of the UCAS, her VP, several Cabinet secretaries, several major members of Congress, appointees, and other figures both corporate and in criminal (assuming you make a distinction between the two). Aand that doesn't even include the material that didn't make it into the book about women like Professor Rozilyn Hernandez or several underworld figures include one of the two DeeCee Capos and the "Pirate Queen." I still haven't finished the writeup for Anne Penchyk, undoubtedly the most powerful feminism activist in the Sixth World.

I hope that my record speaks well to my intentions to write strong characters, many of whom happen to be women—I have written the profiles for Nadja Daviar, Hard Exit, and Samantha Roth in separate products. I did decide to write about them because of their sex, but because I genuinely find them interesting or have a certain amount of potential. However, I am not blind the reality that even in an alternate future setting, there are going to be significant aspects of their character simply because their gender does matter in how they act and are treated by other characters. I am aware that there are certain assumptions and preconceived notions about certain characters (namely President Daviar) because of how they have been written, or rather not written, in the past. This has also a serious concern of mine. For as important the characters are in the setting (Daviar) or as a point of perspective (Hard Exit, among other female JackPointers) there has to be something of substance behind them in order for people to give a damn.

I do think that Shadowrun establishes itself as one where women would be likely, if not more likely, to be in the shadows. However, the creation of JackPoint as a narrative tool has created a more "serious professional" atmosphere in which shadowrunning is framed as an idea. The more politically-tinged Neo-Anarchist's Guides and the general atmosphere surrounding Shadowland, especially as the setting was being constructed in the early nineties, seemed to drive the issue home that shadowrunning was a natural antithesis to the status quo—a neo-mercantilist, patriarchal, human-dominant global society. While some of the old-timers have some of that "Fight the Man" attitude, some of the newer characters seem to regard shadowrunning as just another means to make that nuyen. Hard Exit was rather unique in that regard that a lot of her background is specifically founded on, and framed within, the rejection of that hyper-macho patriarchy that is Lone Star corporate culture.

The most substantive response was made by shadow-jackal, which I will only quote in part as they are her words and not mine:

I think that it’s great that you’re taking this into serious consideration and really looking at how things look from the female perspective. I will say, in general, there aren’t many SR females that I’m interested by. I don’t know, they just seem to not have the right “Substance” in many cases. I’m really into character development, so I really need to understand a character to find them interesting. That isn’t always easy in a RPG. There’s only so much material you can put out.

So I would like to continue this discussion here. I'm still mulling over shadow-jackal's comment, but I wonder what you think.