If the women cannot have their freedom, then THEY cannot have more children! The women, almost all of them on the planet, agree to take a reversable treatment which leads them to be barren. And the only ones who can reverse it? The Alliance. The CEO's refuse to give them freedom? The CEO's population can vanish! -- Anon Guest
Of course the Alliance gave them the weapon in their battle. Something easy to smuggle in, easy to apply, and very very hard to undo. It was the choice of everyone who wanted it to use it. Those assigned the task of being brood mares for the CEO's had their differing reasons.
Some plainly didn't want to be called women. Some didn't want to be used. Some were unwilling to sacrifice their health and welfare for the greater advancement of the moral good. Many more were merely sick of being expected to produce the next generation of working cogs without any recognition beyond even more expectations of their effort. There were always a few who were loyal to the propaganda.
They didn't want much. Merely a small list of rights that the other half of the population got without question. The vote, control over their own finances, the ability to decide if they wanted to reproduce, the right to childcare options, and an equal paycheque to their male fellows.
The outrage from this simple list of requests had to be experienced to be believed.
They were told they were uppity. They were told they needed to learn their place. They were told that their only use was their uteri.
Most of them had had enough of that.
Almost overnight, the population went into steep decline. The uteri in contention and the people attached were suddenly unable to bear.
They tried to ignore it, as they did with all the bigger problems. It was a problem they could ignore for fifteen years. By then it was dire, as those who chose to sacrifice themselves for the greater good had perished in their heroism and remained unremembered for their imagined heroism.
Because of where they were, they were blamed for dying for the greater good.
Those who remained had had more than enough. If the CEO's preferred they didn't exist, they could make their lost felt most intensely.
The CEO's imported artificial gestation technology, but it was too little too late. They needed the genetic donations from the unfavoured half of the population.
And they had a list of requests before they deigned to donate.
[Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash]
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