Educating girls?

[ModerateOsprey]

I seem to have an awful lot of daughters in my current playthough and I have now getting close to the point where I need to decide their education.

Given that CK2 doesn't have much in the way of things for girls/women to do apart from breed, I'm curious as to what others think would be some good education foci for them.

 

[Astaer]

Diplomacy for a chance at that +fertility

 

[adriankowaty]

Before women laws - only Diplomacy. After these - it depends on basic skills of girl or position in councill which you need.

 

[ModerateOsprey]

Diplomacy it is then! Thanks.

 

[Knotz]

Being good with money makes you hornier (15% top tier stewardship vs 10% top tier diplomacy) so if you're only using women as broodmares I'd suggest educating them in stewardship instead.

 

[ModerateOsprey]

Being good with money makes you hornier (15% top tier stewardship vs 10% top tier diplomacy) so if you're only using women as broodmares I'd suggest educating them in stewardship instead.

Well, I would like to use them for a lot more, but the game won't let me! There is just enough sons around to just about prevent inheritance to a girl child, so far anyway.

Some background. I am playing a count that has the titles to the County of Lancaster and the County of Westmorland (Charlemagne start) and have managed to get my heir (a son) betrothed to the daughter of the King of Northumbria, so it will be some time before I can influence any gender laws.

I do have some cross hatching on Westmorland saying the region is Cathar, although I can't actually find any Cathar characters in that county. I sort of have a desire in the back of my mind to somehow fan the flames of that giving me access to the other 50% of the population, but at my level I am worried about it blowing up in my face.

 

[Dragatus]

I'd actually recommend against becoming Cathar unless you're a big enough to fend of holy wars from your neighbours or even a crusade (I hear the Ummayads like to trigger those early). But by that time you might as well unlock women's rights. A safer plan, but harder to accomplish, is to turn Messalian. The issue here is that there are virtually no Messalians on the map so you'd have to first turn Nestorian and then have your chaplain trigger a heresy, but all the Nestorians are likely to be way out of your diplomatic range. A final option is to give your heir Heritage education and send him off as a ward to a Basque ruler.

 

[josefrees]

Getting full rights for women is a slog and hard to achieve but it is really really helpful and gives you huge advantages because the rest of the world can't use their stats. Nothing like having a bunch of women commanders rocking the world haha

 

[Thrake]

Don't bother with this, it's useless and a waste of your time. All that I do is when I want someone I will ally to be successful is to marry one of his relatives with a talented daughter. Otherwise, wathever their stats, fertility,... will be is their future's husband concern, not mine. Unless you're zoroastrian...

Oh yeah, and I try to avoid intrigue education, you don't want an ambitious daughter with high intrigue if you like your heir

 

[RhaegarTelcontarTargaryen]

Educating women? What kind of blasphemy is this? /nodding approval from major religions

I usually go for intrigue and diplomacy, and sometimes stewardship. If I play pagans, I often let them actually have martial, but with Christians, I usually go with diplomacy and intrigue.

 

[Llyw olaf]

I like the change that female rulers can now lead armies but I wish it was restricted to those with a martial education, until you raised the relevant status of women law, I also think that pregnancy should prevent commanding rather than just giving a combat penalty.
My current character has a heavily pregnant, mastermind theologian queen of Italy as a wife constantly crushing rebellions and attacking the pope! he's crossing his fingers that she won't be killed. I just feel it would be more unique and historical if restricted to a martial education, I usually go diplomacy or stewardship with daughters but it would feel much more special if female martial education was a rarity, and a must for leading armies, with the current rules a king raising his only daughter to be a warrior queen doesn't feel that special if any old medieval queen can lead and fight armies too.

 

[Mike Louis]

If your realm's Status of Women law is set to the traditional / historical side of the spectrum, then go ahead and give your ruler's daughters either a diplomatic or stewardship education. If on the other hand your Status of Women law is set to the progressive / ahistorical side of the spectrum, you can give your ruler's daughters the education that best suits their stats and traits.
In my games, my realm starts off on the most progressive side of the Status of Women spectrum because I'm in a pretty rough neighborhood (Middle East) where you need +10 martial stat commanders like yesterday and I'm not going to deny myself the services of characters with +10 martial stat and brilliant strategist trait just because they're women. The historical faction may not approve, but If my Great King must reluctantly send his military educated wife and or daughters to their possible deaths leading the imperial armies against the Abbasids / Byzantines / nomadic hordes in order to preserve the realm, at least he does so knowing that they're the best military commanders he have on hand. The same deal in regards to my council; I want the best advisors that my ruler can get regardless of gender. One of the best things about CK2 is that it gives you the choice of either traditional and historical or progressive and ahistorical in regards to your female characters.

 

[ModerateOsprey]

Some really helpful and interesting replies here, thank you.

I am still early on in my playthrough and so not even close to getting any rights for these lasses. Still a Earl, but I have a pretty big power base. My current ruler can't go for the throne yet as he married the current king's daughter and so there is a non-agression pact in place. With a bit of luck, we may just inherit.

My little area of Cathar got snuffed out, so that is no longer a possibility.

I guess I am going to have to play the long game - become king, increase tolerance, change laws.

Meanwhile, I am filling my court with content, friendly girls who can at least act as educators. Finding decent matrilineal marriages for them is tricky, tho'

 

[Harassercat]

So far I've been playing a lot with tribal pagans and then the women can at least be priestesses and court chaplains. So I commonly choose faith / learning for girls. Having decent intrigue ladies around can also be very helpful, either as spymasters or at least as participants in plots; I find it hard to educate consistently for intrigue however, but I regularly pick thrift for girls which can lead to good intrigue potential or otherwise diplomacy.

But even if you can't offer any useful positions to women then they can always be educators. So even a struggle / martial focus can become useful. If I can potentially get a woman to have 12+ in some stat and desirable traits like Content, Brave, Diligent, Gregarious, then that woman can become a useful educator.