Editing Ferengi (section)

===Role of Women=== 
[[Image:Ferengi_female.jpg|right]]
The traditional laws of the Ferengi were highly sexist and patriarchal by the contemporary standards of many other civilizations. Unlike those of the Federation, Romulan, or even Klingon societies, Ferengi females were barred from most aspects of society, including politics and business. Laws and traditional social values relegated females to the level of property. Women had no valued role in society apart from the propagation of male heirs. 

Marriage, like everything else in Ferengi culture, was a business contract, signed between the prospective groom and the bride's father, in which the father leased his daughter to the groom for a set period (usually five years) for an agreed fee, paid on the birth of a son. (DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume") 

As described by Quark, in a marriage "on the Ferengi home world, husbands and wives never argue. There's no divorce, no broken homes; nothing but peaceful conjugal bliss." (DS9: "Fascination") 

In addition to being forbidden to earn profit and own property, Ferengi females were not allowed to wear clothes, leave their homes without male escort, or speak to strange males. Their role as caregiver to the male children of a family was strictly defined. Mothers were expected to teach their children the Rules of Acquisition, and to soften their male children's food by chewing it for them. (TNG: "The Last Outpost", "Ménage à Troi"; DS9: "Life Support", "Family Business") 

However, by the late 24th century, females made up 53.5% of the Ferengi population and some Ferengi began to realize that exclusion of females from business represented a significant loss of profit opportunities. A movement, led by Ishka and, through her influence, Zek, developed with the goal of reforming cultural traditions that had excluded women. Initial progress toward this goal seemed less than promising, but by 2375 with the ascension of the progressive Rom to the position of Grand Nagus the likelihood of further reforms seemed inevitable.(DS9: "Profit and Lace", "The Dogs of War") 

Because of the long-standing ban on acquisition of profit by females, any female wishing to engage in commerce had to either bury evidence of her involvement in a transaction or appear as a male. Notably, Pel not only altered the manner of her attire, but also disguised her breasts and the size of her lobes in order to be included in Quark's financial decision-making. Using this disguised appearance, she was involved in the first recorded business transaction between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. A contract would likely not have been concluded without her input, making it, at the time, the most significant financial achievement by Ferengi female. (DS9: "Rules of Acquisition") Her skill in successfully negotiating the contract between the Ferengi and the Karemma would later have a profound impact on the entire Alpha Quadrant. It proved the basis by which the Federation made first contact with the Founders, which would in turn lead to the Dominion War. (DS9: "The Search, Part I") 

Quark himself would later be involved in an even more significant instance of cross-dressing, one which would fundamentally alter the nature of Ferengi society. Grand Nagus Zek – as influenced by Quark's mother, Ishka – attempted to give women the right to wear clothes. He was immediately displaced from power by Brunt, and forced to set up a government-in-exile on Deep Space 9. While there, Zek tried to convince top Ferengi businessmen to join him for a conference to demonstrate the intelligence of women, using Ishka as his exemplar. When she collapsed after suffering a heart attack, Quark had to fake being the female, "Lumba", so as to impress Nilva, the ultra-conservative manufacturer of Slug-o-Cola. Quark's "Lumba" sufficiently influenced Nilva to call for, and get, the immediate reinstatement of Zek as Nagus. Zek's women's rights agenda therefore continued. (DS9: "Profit and Lace")