The brilliant Tevana is still the princess being held in the tower by an evil king waiting to be rescued by her gallant lover. Kia-Ga cannot be rescued so it is up to the male husband to decide her fate. Men, on the other hand, are brilliant leaders, brave soldiers, evil tyrants, lecherous oafs all of them, however, with power and politics. Now, one could say that this is typical of an historical time and place and the Mendab society reflects this. However, at the same time, history has shown that GCSE representation of sexual politics always preclude any reality in terms of the experience of the women.
Men write most history.
However genuine to his created society Darvill-Evans is trying to be he does not capture anything but contempt for the women in Independence Day. He makes little effort to show them as individuals with their own sense of worth or, indeed, alternative power. As Ness Bishop points out in her DWM review there is disparity in terms of descriptive writing. Darvill-Evans wanders gamely around his created worlds describing every outcrop, ledge and promontory. Yet character description even if motivation is disregarded is lazy in particular the need to introduce Kedin by means of Richard E Grant.