When Females Fail, Society Fails

Women are the heart and soul of any society and if they fail, all of society is at risk.

John Conlin | April 27, 2026

When I look at the faces of those eight young Iranian women about to be hanged for the “crime” of wanting freedom I think of their grandmothers.

Their very own grandmothers -- who enjoyed wide-ranging individual freedom and wore bikinis, miniskirts, and smoked cigarettes -- are sadly the root cause of their grandchildren’s demise.

Decades ago, they welcomed the revolution with open arms. At its core, they are the reason it succeeded. And now, 47 years later their grandchildren are being slaughtered for wanting the same freedoms their grandmothers had, yet foolishly gave away.

They are the reason women are beaten and raped by their own government as retribution for not doing what is demanded. They are the reason a young wrestler and thousands of others -- both men and women -- are routinely hanged in public spectacles for the crimes of wanted to be free. They are the reason tens of thousands of unarmed Iranians have been gunned down by their own government, again for the terrible crime of wanting a better life.

Although these eight have supposedly been spared the noose, women are regularly raped before execution in the belief this dirties their souls and thus denies them salvation on their death. We don’t know if these eight dodged that or not.

You see, women are the heart and soul of any society and if they fail, all of society is at risk.

Ask any horse breeder and they will tell you the strength and size of a colt will come from the stallion. But the heart -- that strength of will and indomitable spirit that will make the colt an incredible horse -- comes from the mare.

Or look at the animal kingdom. Older, female elephants are the heart of the herd and their knowledge is what ensures its survival. They are the ones who know what to do when the droughts hit. Where the potential food and watering holes are. How to take care and protect the little ones and the entire herd. All the nuts-and-bolts of survival rests with them.

In organizations we often talk about institutional knowledge. This is unwritten knowledge that exists in the individuals in the organization and once they are gone, so is the knowledge.

Storing this vital information in females makes evolutionary sense as females live longer than males so they have the longer-lived experience. And of course, just from a breeding perspective, the survival of females is always far more important to the continuation of the society than are males. 

This is true across the animal kingdom and it true for us too. But when females fail in their roles, all of society will begin to unravel. It is a guarantee.

Obviously, this isn’t a planned strategy, but once it happens it’s tough to get that genie back in the bottle. This isn’t a single female’s failure but rather a slow eroding of what has been. Speaking as a Baby Boomer, I’d say the problem started with us.

And just as obviously, females don’t exist in a vacuum. Males carry just as much blame as females but the females are the glue that hold society together and this is just the way it is. When this glue fails, cultures cease to be what they had been -- almost always for the worse.

Those Iranian grandmothers might have not wanted this to happen but they are the reason nonetheless.

Look at this country. Grandmothers have always been the purveyors of knowledge on childbirth and rearing and general family matters. This has fallen apart as young women now look elsewhere for their guidance. Any objective analysis screams this has been bad for children, families, and all society.

Where did cancel culture come from? Failed women. The no-contact craze destroying families? Failed women. Suicidal empathy? The same. Feel-good socialism? Trans-insanity and before that the Satanic Panic. The list is long

We have young women who track and brag about their sexual “body count.” Biologically, that’s kind of like bragging how good a salesperson you are because you can give money away. Speaking as a guy, although we're all for you giving it up, I can assure you that easy sex does not make men better creatures. And women and families are the losers.

Can these things be fixed? I honestly don’t know. Sadly, the odds seem pretty low, especially over the short term.

I’m not assigning blame, it’s just that the “institutional knowledge” of females has seldom been truly understood and as highly valued as it should be. And we are all worse off because of it. They are far more important to the heart of a culture than are the men. You can’t grow boys or girls into strong adults without strong women.

Our educational systems -- both K-12 and higher ed -- seem intent on destroying young women. I often think the sexual mores they embrace were actually designed by horny, drunken frat boys who didn’t give a damn about women.

Instead, these institutions seem to draft them into a cult -- one that will destroy the very society that provides them with the freedom to do so. Think of those Iranian grandmothers.

Rather than assigning gender blame -- and there is plenty to go around -- we need to be thinking about how we can re-instill females into their society-saving role.

They will either be our saviors or the catalyst of our downfall. Ask those eight young Iranian women on their way to the gallows.

Can we all find it again? We had better hope so.

John Conlin is an expert in organizational design and change. He also holds a BS in Earth Sciences and an MBA and is the founder and President of E.I.C. Enterprises. He has been published in American Greatness, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, American Thinker, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, and Public Square Magazine among others.

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