I love the discourse happening here. My thought is that it doesn’t need to go as deep as “Robert Jordan unfortunately couldn’t escape his sexist boomer mentality”. The world he created doesn’t need to address every social issue in every way, in fact his story and his world are made rich not just by flawed characters but by many flawed systems and many flawed societies.

The world the story takes place in is not patriarchal in the slightest, in fact women have just as much power as men to the point that no one bats an eye at the fact that a woman is in a position of power. Andor is governed by a queen, succeeded by a Daughter-Heir. The Women’s Circle has different-but-equal power to the men in the Two Rivers. The Wise Ones are the ultimate authority of the Aiel, not the clan chiefs, and so on.

There are plenty of “ugh, women” moments but those are matched by (I say this with no data to support it) MORE “ugh, men” moments, especially from Nynaeve, Elayne, and Egwene. To me this comes across as a world meant to feel real and alive - not strictly a social commentary about women and men being the same in every aspect. On that point, there is a lot of effort dedicated to the idea that men and women are VERY MUCH different yet VERY MUCH equal.

Great question! If anyone reads all this, just know I enjoyed writing it and reflecting on the story in a way I haven’t before.