Hopefully I don't get too flogged for this...but, my answer is going to take a page out of Peterson's feminine/masculine - chaos/order analogy.

Specifically, nature is chaos. Trying to do a rain dance? You're flirting with hurricanes. It's not that females are the weaker sex in this case, it's that we need more of them to gain access to nature. It's their influence that allows for the control of nature itself. These women are powerful indeed.

But anytime one deals with influencing nature, things can quickly go out of control, simply because nature doesn't want to be controlled. Enter the masculine. He is the bumper rails on this bowling lane. Influencing the magic just a bit, but there to influence the control over nature - but not the control that you think. Remember, it's the feminine that will actually be causing the rain storm and drumming up the winds. But, it's the masculine that acts to stop the hurricane. Neither can exist without the other.

Hopefully I don't get too flogged for this...but, my answer is going to take a page out of Peterson's feminine/masculine - chaos/order analogy.

Specifically, nature is chaos. Trying to do a rain dance? You're flirting with hurricanes. It's not that females are the weaker sex in this case, it's that we need them, and lots of them to gain access to nature. It's their influence that allows for the control of nature itself. These women are powerful indeed.

But anytime one deals with influencing nature, things can quickly go out of control, simply because nature doesn't want to be controlled. Enter the masculine. He is the bumper rails on this bowling lane. But, keep in mind that (let's take this analogy further), it's the women throwing the ball, the women knocking the pins, and indeed, the women potentially overthrowing into the next lane.

Your male is there to guide the power and to keep it in check. It's the women causing the rainstorm, and the man stopping the hurricane. So, there's simply less need for men in this case because their role is less in the production of the magic. 1:8 happens to be the golden ratio that your culture has found that:

• allows for the creation of strong magics
• keeps the magic from going out of control
• keeps everyone alive (make it 1:9 and the feminine magic overpowers and kills the male. Make it 1:7 and the bumpers get too restrictive, so to speak)

This scenario will implicate that less amounts of women can easily do magic, and more powerful magic, than the men. But, as in your case, in order to do the really powerful stuff, the two must work together. Neither can exist without the other.