SOURCE: "Gender, Power, and Conflict Resolution: Subcommittee' by Zenna Henderson," in Extrapolation, Vol. 35, No. 2, Summer, 1994, pp. 120-29.

In the essay below, Mendlesohn examines gender roles and power structures in "Subcommittee," placing the story in the context of the time it was written, before the rise of feminism.

Studies of gender and science fiction have remained rare despite the recent boom in gender studies. The principal reason for this is that gender remains for many a euphemism for "women." Women are gendered; men are not. The directions feminist science fiction criticism has taken have mitigated against the exploration of gender, either as an issue or a tool. Feminist criticism has instead explored a number of alternative paths, beginning from the "women in . . ." approach and the consideration of the portrayal of women in sf and moving on, in understandable desperation, to the consideration of feminist and predominantly female authors. Here...