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Wait, isn't females not being portrayed as ultimately evil in a kids' show a good thing?
Short answer - it's not considered attractive/sexy for a female character to behave in the same way as a male villain. Even if the character isn't human-looking they seem to think it's just a step too far and makes her too loathsome if she enjoys evil for evil's sake. So the villainess either has to be redeemable or have the fanservice angle played up. And a lot of writers seem to think that all female characters (whether good or evil) must have the stereotypical motivations of family, romance, or some past trauma
EDIT: I think you have to remember as well that the target audience for modern Sentai is kids aged from about three to five. It's very common for children to be taught that "bad people" are men; and at that age kids are still very much dependent on their mothers. So there are reasons why writers might be wary of making a female character too villainous. When Tsukada was producer of Gekiranger he said in an interview that Toei wanted Sentai to present the audience with a nicer world than they see in real life, so they do sanitize the show to some extent.
I would kill for a female equivalent of Long, Basco or Enter that was genuinely menacing and evil, not just there for fanservice. But it's not going to happen.
The fact of the matter is that Sentai is targeted toward elementary-age boys, so a lot of female characters (good or evil) are given shallower characterization than the men. Even at a young age, boys relate more to and sympathize with male characters. It's part of the reason why screaming reds are so popular. Which is why female heroes come in roughly 4 personality types, and female villains get the same kind of backstories and personalities over and over.
lazycoconut has a really good point as well; children at that age are more inclined to like their mothers, and often see their fathers are bossy and mean. So they're probably used to men being like that, and can relate it to Sentai villains. Women, not so much.
Well, those stereotype are not exclusive to Japan. They exist in America, just not as strongly. I think it's less that 'Japan is sexist' and more 'Children are sexist'.
So are you saying that when toku was more of a 'family show' the kids in the audience would have been "weened off" their mothers enough to accept irredeemable villainesses like Amazon Killer and Ahames?
Saeko - Lost a lot of her "bite" in the second arc when suddenly she was the giggling schoolgirl who just wanted Isaka-sensei to notice her.