I guess I’ve always though of a hero as someone you root for, and I can’t say that these ladies give me a lot to root for.  Are they heroines in terms of what?  In defiance of The Man? Jael would win that one.  In terms of character growth?  Jeannine being more assertive, not needing to marry Cal, or going through with it so that we see it – maybe that is heroic.  But I would not go so far as to call any one of the four J’s a heroine.  And maybe the most heroic action comes on the part of Janet as they sit in the cafe, or diner, when she refuses to let Jael’s army put a base on Whileaway.  Janet doesn’t understand men, doesn’t have to deal with them, but it doesn’t mean she wants them eliminated.  There is potentially the type of green ray with a fifty-mile raduis that Jael’s world could bombard Whileaway with, but that possibility doesn’t hinder her decision.  (But I grew up Mennonite, so it figures that I applaude that.)