The Ferengi Alliance really wasn't transformed by one person.
Yes, it really was. Until Ishka started whispering in his ear, Zek found female equality unthinkable. ["Rules of Aquisition"]
It was a perfectly believable path towards change for Ferenginar, especially since it leaned heavily on manipulating the greed of anyone who might stand in its way (something we've seen Ferengi - especially the less bright/more bigoted ones - are singularly vulnerable to many, many times over). And also because it took years to actually accomplish the whole thing, which still didn't exactly make Ferengi society totally unrecognizable, either - profit remained of massive importance.
Actually, it really wasn't, because of the sheer magnitude of obstacles in the way. Here are three, in ascending order of severity.
3. Out of 400 major businessmen on Ferenginar, one was willing to listen to the notion that females should have equal rights. That's 0.25% vs. 99.75%. The problem that 399 out of 400 of the most influential people in society still wanted Brunt in the office is never addressed.
2. Among the ultimate consequences of females wearing clothes was that they would seek jobs. Just how, exactly, is a society going to double its job pool overnight?
1. The big one is that there must have been a massive and deep rooted prejudice against women in Ferengi society. Otherwise, some other businessman would have done what Zek was trying to do long before. In addition to the uneducated and eminently exploitable workers, females wearing clothes means tens (maybe hundreds) of billions of articles of clothing being needed. Females being educated means the schools will pull in double the tuition. Females leaving the house means vehicle sales. Yet somehow, Ishka made that prejudice completely irrelevant.
That being said, I understand that it was inevitable that women's rights were going to come to Ferenginar. And, it was NOT impossible to do just that and have it make sense. They just needed to have an existing, burgeoning women's rights movement in place. It really would have just required a few extra lines by Brunt, when he was trying to get Quark to ruin the Ishka/Zek romance. He mentions that Ferengi society is at a tipping point, and millions of females worldwide are already clamoring for a more equal society. If Ishka retains Zek's ear, she becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back. Revolution, yes, but set up by generations of
evolution.
And if Section 31, the organization that is designated for that kind of dirty work, didn't think of it, how would it have happened if Sisko and Garak didn't do the plan?
But that brings up a new question... why didn't they? It's just the sort of skulduggery S31 would do. And DID do, in "Inter Arma".
But that doesn't have anything to do with what you were saying. That was a specific instance. And a situation that had ended by the finale. At any other point it would have been infinitely better to be part of the Federation.
Yes. So it made sense for Bajor to be unallied right up until the war was over. So, season 8 would have shown how the peace unfolded: relief efforts in Cardassia, the Romulans discover the truth, changes in Klingon culture with warrior Martok replacing political Gowron. And, Bajor joins the Federation, with Colonel Kira playing a crucial role. And I like to think Sisko returns near the end, and retires to Bajor with his family.
