It seems strange to be an oversight so it has to be a question of lore. The problem you have with the lore issue is allot of the Imperials in Skyrim are Nords so it would make since that Female Nords would have volunteered for the Imperials as well as the Stormcloaks, that’s the nature of a civil war.

Wasn't there a quest in Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood questline where you had to kill a female guard captain in Bravil? That suggests females are rare in guard duty, but it is not impossible for them to join.

Edit: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Caelia_Draconis

Whelp, one more reason to join the stormcloaks.

With the Stormcloaks it seems to be a fifty fifty male to female ratio, with the Imperials its more 100 to 1

Given that gods in the TES universe are shown to be quite active and are actively influencing everyone's life(This one in particular working to prevent world's end). Doesn't seem that silly to me.

One theory is the Imperals don't beleive in equality like the Stormcloaks do, or the don't feel a need to recruit both male and femals and don't view the Stomcloaks rebelion as a serious threat.

It's probably just an oversight. There's a few female Imperial soldiers including Lieutenant Rikke, the damn captain at the beginning, the former legionnaire in Dawnstar and the EEC legionnaire.

Sigh...

Not everything needs to have a woman in it just as not everything needs to have a man in it. Why should it even be an issue? because of present day over-the-top feminism and political correctness?

For me, I think it`s to give that historical `Roman` feeling. A military warrior woman in every ancient warrior thing actually does feel less `real` and in a way less `harsh` in a world where mere brawn should advantage a man more than a woman. To me, it also makes the Imperials feel a little more tougher (as in the real thing). Also, there is a woman Imperial captain in the game which I see is a political consideration to show that the Imperials do `consider` women warriors in their ranks, but just not much. You probabaly have to be a really tough women to make it in the Imperials and not one to cause a `where are all the women?` scene either.

Now the Stormcloaks are different they`re part of a culture where women warriors are not unheard of and is in fact, welcomed (shield maidens, etc). I think the differences actually add a sense of REALITY to the game.

If I had it my way I have a more extreme system where women warriors were the exception (you saw them but not many) and that issues existed, just as I would make race a more obvious situation as I notice that race, especially khajitts and Argonians are totally unnoticed.

And one constant the Thalmor apparently didn't know about is that when you outlaw a religion and persecute its followers you just cause it to grow that much more (as in Christianity and Rome).

I don't see cause and effect here. Christianity itself later went on to outlaw and persecute several religions, but that didn't cause them to grow. I think we need to look to other causes to explain Christianity's growth.

Yeah but it's nice to get arrested by a beautiful guard.

Anyhow the imperials are sixist, plan and simple. Sure they have Rikke, but where are the rest of the women who are suppose to fight for their empire? Funny how everyone likes to talk down Ulfric for being racist.

I think this comic I made best describes why the Stormcloaks allow females in the army: http://burhenn63.deviantart.com/gallery/34321880#/d4jr2pi

It's funny how there are female Legates, but no female soldiers.

This would make since if it wasn't for the fact that a lot of the Imperials are also Nords also your argument doesn't hold up because there are already Women included in the Imperials in positions of authority. Political correctness, has nothing to do with this conversation, it seems strange that in a game where women are predominantly involved in the quest chains, including combat, it seems out of place when they are suddenly excluded.

It's not always about capability, there's a reason we don't allow women into certain positions even in modern times. It has a lot more to do with liability and politics than physical capability.

This topic can be too long to get into here but the bottom line is it's more politically acceptable for males to be in harm's way than females, especially when you get into the idea of occupying foreign territory. Adding female troops would increase the chances of public backlash and information being compromised. Not because of the females doing anything wrong, but because the males will give up a lot easier to protect them. Having served myself I can tell you that I would have an easier time seeing something bad happen to myself or another guy than seeing it happen to a female comrade. For the most part any civilized society feels the same way (protecting mothers/wives/daughters), so it makes sense that the legion wouldn't send quite so many female troops out to occupy an area in the middle of a civil war.

The Stormcloaks on the other hand don't have that problem of being "foreign". They are defending what they consider to be their home turf and come from a long line of warrior people, so it's not unreasonable for them to be in combat.

You have to consider that the emperor is a long way out of Skyrim (mostly) and will have to deal with the people in his area. He's much less likely to be successful in doing so if he's sending women off to war in combat/guard roles since he's got a bit more political garbage to deal with than Ulfric.

You have to think about what the legion is based on - The Roman Empire. You didn't have female soldiers. Females were rarely even able to speak when in the presence of a man in power or soldier. Females were either slaves, servants or with some important politian and she sat around the house all day with her slaves. Very rarely would a female in Ancient Rome have a voice beyond that of her slaves and, for the most part, most Roman women weren't even given a first name at birth. So while the game does include female soldiers within it's army, it's based on modern society more so than anything within history. Infact, even today we don't have females in combat roles in the military. So it's still more fantasy than fact.

All the fancy historical- social speculations aside, they probably just neglected to have the female imperial VAs record the lines whereas the Nord female VA was doing guard lines and the Stormcloak ones are similar. Obviously women can and do serve in the legion.

"I want more token females" is not high on my list of issues with the game.

bump

Or Rika?

I think we have to seperate the Officers of the Imperials from the Imperial Guards, that patrol the Holds, There are no Female Guards in the Holds that are on the side of the Imperials, and when you complete the civil war quest on the Imperial side (I've done both sides) there are not Female Guards in any Hold.

It's an oversight, plain and simple. The generic (over-accented) nord female voice has a full set of Legion-aligned barks, for both in camps and as guards.

Also, if the Legion is "sixist", then why are the (initially) pro-Empire town guard ranks exclusively male too?

To me, the Empire was painted as the more egalitarian of the two sides of this conflict (cultural posturing aside... which doesn't compare at all to the outright racism of the Stormcloaks). Which is why there being no women in the Legion ranks was kinda conspicuous.

If you're on PC, http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1351761-legionettes/

They have designed a brilliant method:
Male: Front Line Infantry!
Female: Safe.

The captain in the tutorial is a woman ; I don't think I've seen other female Imperials soldiers or officers beside her though.

Legate Rikke.

So... a crazy Red Queen-esque officer in the Helgen chargen dungeon, and Legate Rikke. Oh yeah, and that one orc woman that runs the public blacksmith in Markarth is a retired legionnaire too, smithing to be more precise.

But walk through the Imperial controled cities and there are no female guards