I'm pretty sure that's a feature not a bug.

The story is about how we are the real monsters and if you chose the lesser evil you're still just evil, and the villains are ... Patriarchy, colonialization, and all they bring. And everyone is contributing, everyone is part of the problem, even the people who sacrifice their own happiness to make the world better are often compliant.

Women of science have a way harder time getting into their version of university, only the most intelligent are accepted, and mostly only if they are ugly and not important enough to be sold into marriage. And then they still have to use their bodies, it's expected, and after they comply or when they do it for their own fun, they are shamed. It's just how it works for women in certain male dominated fields, except it's not some lead sorceress telling them to bejewel their pubes or something, it's older women in the field telling them to open their legs and close their mouth if they want to get anywhere.

Edit: But I do understand the distaste for it, especially since it was written in the last century by a man, so it's not exactly deeply nuanced about it