and at the end, on board the Liberator, he shows more concern for the rocket's future than hers.
Well... the rocket is full of very old machinery and potential life, but not *living* life. Unless everything works perfectly, the launch will do no good, and how (as someone else hinted at before) are the new people going to be raised to adulthood? This is definitely a case of gaping plot hole. Meeghat is, unless she's lying about 'others', part of a society. She looks to be about 30. There's no reason to think she won't survive for a good many more years among her people.
OTOH, I can see this as a really good play to start yelling about misogynism. Because the script does seem to place potential life above the life of an individual woman. I would tend to shrug it off as shoddy writing if given no evidence to the contrary-- I try not to look for things to be angry about and only worry about *patterns* of sexism. (Thus my complaint that Cally should have been kept as a warrior and given leadership scripts, not relegated into mommy-mystic roles). But, if you look for hidden ideology, this does seem to be an anti-choice position built into the script. Meeghat doesn't ask to be rescued, but then, as a 'good religious woman', she would not put her health above the potential life entrust to her. Yet, even if this was an intentional pro-life ideology written into the script, I believe that people do have the right to express their viewpoints. Yes, it's annoying now that I've thought to look at it this way, but I appreciate science fiction for its potential to rephrase the topics of modern debates, and the fact that many people think it a shame that Meeghat's future was not explained shows that just rephrasing the debate does not necessarily change people's minds. I may not agree with Neil's ideology all of the time (the middle classes are necessary for successful revolutions if we go by history. When Proles take over governments without having previous democratic experience, we get mob rule and everyone who has shown talent and cleverness is persecuted by those seeking a lowest common denominator. After the mob have wiped out those who can create stability, a dictator steps in)-- but his posts are incredibly well-written, intelligent, and enjoyable. I bring this up to answer the question of why intelligent women can enjoy the episode Deliverance, without resorting to character elements.