Yes, I made a great big post about the ratio of girls to guys just the other day. And on average, its about a 1 in 10 ratio of warrior females to warrior males. (A statistic the strawhats already defy, btw)
I don't think that's inherantly sexist, not when
a)its a shonen manga targeted theoretically mostly towards little boys
b)girls don't go into the physical fighting stuff as much as guys do.
There's women in the real world that can bench press me and outdo me in any sport and totally kick my ass. Plenty of tough women out there. But comparatively, how many women decide to be teachers and nurses, or take a year off to be a house-mother after having a baby, compared to the number of women that go out and become fire-fighters and professional boxers and navy seals?
Even in the real world, more women are inclined to go towards typically feminine roles and careers, and those that go out into the harsher physically straining jobs exist, but are rarer. A 1 in 10 ratio in One Piece of badass warrior women to men isn't a great ratio, granted, but its about a fair one, I think.
(Boa Hancock's blatant sexism attacks aside.)
@Monkey:
There was sexism too, remember what her father said to her.
True. That was also a part of accepting the fact she'd start falling behind in a year or two I suppose…
Really the more time that passes though, the more that entire bit seems out of place given that time and time again they make a point of swordfighting emphasizes skill more than strength. And the existence of things like the CP9 forms or haki make it even more out of place... though I guess Zoro's master wasn't aware of those.
@I:
I'd like to see another strong female character (doesn't have to be the next nakamate) who was just "meh" in terms of looks. Just average, not a looker and not ugly as sin. Have there been any women like that?
There was a pretty wide range of variety among the Amazons, I think. And Skypiea had a few of middleground warrior females. The Franky Family was all over the place, I'm not quite sure where the Square Sisters would fall?
Oda doesn't really go the middle road for either gender, they tend to be good looking or really freaky and distinctive.
On the other hand, every mermaid we've seen so far other than Kokoro has been very much on the "looker" side.
And fair point about the candies, as well.