NeverarGreat said:

Heilemann said:

I think the 'Jedi are male' idea, even if it was never spoken, is probably true for the OT. After all, they were modeled on samurai, a strictly male profession.

This is what I was getting at. Obviously women could fight in feudal Japan, it's just that they would never get the designation of Samurai regardless of how skillful they were. In the book, Lucas says that anyone could be strong in the Force if they worked at it, it's just that the Jedi have some peculiar rules.

This is entirely untrue. There are known documented cases of female samurai.