Invaded: The Companion Guide

Gender Roles

The Commune follows strict and conservative views on gender roles and status within the Commune.

During the farming season, men are responsible for tending to the fields. Year-round duties include managing livestock and performing repairs as necessary throughout the community. In the off-season, they are responsible for hunting, gathering firewood, and preparing for the spring when the planting season begins.

In the warmer months, women look after both a garden and a greenhouse, maintaining the latter into the colder season. Their chiefest duties are to their household and to bearing and raising the children, especially little girls. They are also responsible for much of the healthcare within the community.

A woman may only host male guests when her husband, father, brother or son is present to ensure that they are not taken advantage of. The male who is head of his household is solely responsible for the protection of his own kin, however the complete protection of all women and children falls in the hands of every man of the commune.

Any woman who is caught attempting to flee from her commune will be put to death publicly as a reminder and a lesson to all women, but young girls especially. It is seen as cowardice and treason as a threat to the prosperity of their small and secluded society, as well as an embarrassment to their families. Men who attempt escape are publicly flogged with a willow branch and are made to remain shirtless until the blisters have healed as a means of teaching boys and young men that cowardice is unacceptable.