Yes, there are significant female characters, I think primarily academics which in context are the most important kind of people. I didn't notice anything off

Yes, there are significant female characters, I think primarily academics which in context are the most important kind of people. I didn't notice anything off when I first read it, but that was in the 1970s and I was a young studious male. I remembered it as a fun space story and one which glorified researchers and academics as important over generals and politicians… which probably is a lot of the appeal to a certain audience. I think now it's sort of like watching space movies from the 1950s. Model spaceships swinging along on wires in front of a painting and zippers up the back of the alien monster's skin were the norm then and just ignored, now they are moment ruining features.