Iron Widow’s central theme is the oppression of women under patriarchy, and the novel extensively explores the various ways in which women choose to resist that oppression. To develop this aspect, Zhao uses the genre conventions of dystopian science fiction to create a world in which misogyny is exaggerated to the extreme. This stylistic choice allows Zhao to highlight a variety of contemporary issues surrounding patriarchal oppression, a primary aspect of which revolves around the common practice of reducing women’s bodies to mere objects for men to use, enjoy, and discard. Wu Zetian is therefore an anomaly in her world; other women simply do not have the ability to openly defy men as she does. At first, Zetian believes that this is because she is uniquely strong compared to other women, a conviction that ironically reinforces the existing stereotypes about women being inherently weaker or lesser than men. As Zetian progresses through her journey, however, she realizes that resisting patriarchy isn’t a simple matter and that women are often bound by patriarchal chains in complicated ways.

Ma Xiuying’s betrayal and the intervention of the Heavenly Council illustrate that resisting oppression isn’t just a matter of willpower.