Why couldn't Pel stay on the station?

[Frisco Del Rosario]

In The Rules of Acquisition, the female Pel breaks the rules of Ferengi society by putting on clothes, and demonstrating that women are equally good at making profit.

She falls in love with Quark, and it's clear that he has feelings for her, too, but she boards a transport at the end of the episode.

Why couldn't she just stay on the station?

In universe, I mean. I reckon the showrunners didn't intend to add another cast member (and fourth Ferengi), and Quark couldn't behave in the usual horny fashion if he were attached, which would dampen the character in the narrative sense.

The real life reasons for Pel having to leave make sense, but in universe, Pel and Quark were a good team.

 

[Charles Phipps]

In-universe, Pel would have gotten Quark into the same amount of trouble his mother did. Which really became the backbone of his character arc after all.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If Quark supported Pel he’d have gotten in trouble with the FCA. But Pel should have the option of applying to the Federation for asylum.

 

[Oddish]

Two words: RESET BUTTON!

 

[Timo]

Quark couldn't behave in the usual horny fashion if he were attached, which would dampen the character in the narrative sense.

I don't quite see this one. Why would being attached dampen anything? Quark treats human vices as high virtues. He has money, so obviously he wants more of it, to a comical and occasionally tragical effect. If he had, uh, "attachments", he'd simply want more of those, too, all in service of drama.

We never heard Rule of Acquisition #2 on screen, but I'm pretty sure it reads "You can never have enough greed". Giving Quark a woman would not be the end of anything. And, considering Pel was a Ferengi male at heart, it wouldn't be one-sided, either.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Oddish]

Keeping Pel could have been the beginning to a more intelligent way of resolving the "oppressed Ferengi females" problem, by showing that the social order on Ferenginar was already showing cracks. As was the case on Angel One, females were already starting to rebel against the established order: a kimono here, a "chew your own @*$#!-ing worms" there, and doing business wherever they could. That would make Ishka's actions the tipping point, rather than a magical transformation.

 

[Josh Kelton]

She falls in love with Quark, and it's clear that he has feelings for her, too, but she boards a transport at the end of the episode.

She's in love with Quark. Quark states that she wouldn't be happy being a traditional wife. She can't get what she wants, so she leaves.

 

[at Quark's]

If Quark supported Pel he’d have gotten in trouble with the FCA. But Pel should have the option of applying to the Federation for asylum.

Perhaps she did after all. That transport she boarded was Andorian, so it's quite possible it went to Andor, a Federation core world.

 

[Oddish]

Perhaps she did after all. That transport she boarded was Andorian, so it's quite possible it went to Andor, a Federation core world.

One wonders why more females didn't do the same. Toxic cultural beliefs, maybe?

 

[kkt]

One wonders why more females didn't do the same. Toxic cultural beliefs, maybe?

Great expense of the journey, and females have little or no latinum.

And even if they are being oppressed economically and culturally they love their families and don't want to be separated from them forever.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Great expense of the journey, and females have little or no latinum.

And even if they are being oppressed economically and culturally they love their families and don't want to be separated from them forever.

It's also doubtful that your average Ferengi transport is going to accept a woman booking a ticket and boarding a ship offworld - for most, it would only be if their fathers, their husbands, or their sons would give them the opportunity to leave the planet, and any of them taking them offworld would almost certainly be keeping track of them as property.

Any woman who wants to leave would have to dress in a male's clothes and wear false ears, and these probably are not easy to obtain. Not to mention the fee for the disguise, which would also be hard to obtain, because any woman who acquires any profit is breaking the law, rather than living off of whatever stipend she's supposed to live off, generously provided by the men in her life. As well as the resultant bribe to ensure that there's no record of their illegal activities.

 

[Timo]

...However, there's obviously far more profit in running an underground railway for female fugitives than in turning them in. If the victims do manage to get the money for starting their flight, say, just the sum for purchasing the ears, then there's fortunes to be made in blackmailng the whole source chain for that money, starting with but certainly not limited to the family of the rebellious female.

And in order to keep that racket going, some flghts would have to be successful, for simple marketing purposes...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JirinPanthosa]

We can also assume women on Ferenginar mostly aren’t given access to education to have to tools to plot an escape or even know where to escape to.

 

[Oddish]

But Ishka seemed to have little trouble obtaining clothing, doing enough business to build a sizable financial empire, and influencing the Nagus.

 

[kkt]

She probably learned something from managing the family money while her husband was alive.

 

[dupersuper]

...However, there's obviously far more profit in running an underground railway for female fugitives than in turning them in.

Is there? They'd have trouble getting much latinum together to pay you, and maybe there's a reward for turning them in.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

There's also a huge amount of risk. If you got caught you'd lose your business license. Which is basically blacklisting for a Ferengi if you don't happen to have a lot of anticapitalist alien buddies rooting for you.

 

[Oddish]

I wonder if that's still an issue, with the Ferengi Alliance now "Federation 2.0, only it uses money".

 

[kkt]

It's going to be a long time before the Ferengi Alliance is Federation 2.0!
You don't think Quark and Brunt are the only conservative Ferengi out there, do you?

 

[Timo]

Is there? They'd have trouble getting much latinum together to pay you, and maybe there's a reward for turning them in.

Which counts as a double win, of course. Only a certain percentage of your clients need make it to freedom...

As said, the runaway females would be but a tiny part of that racket. Endless opportunities for cross-blackmailing there. After all, nobody really wants these females caught, that is, exposed: there's too much at stake for everybody involved. And the authorities would be the last to want to shut down the railroad - who could they threaten with arrest then?

Timo Saloniemi