"When It Changed" is a science fiction short story by Joanna Russ. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story 1973, and won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1972. It was included in Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions.

Plot summary

The story is told from the perspective of Janet Evason. When first returning to the quiet world of "Whileaway", male astronauts are surprised at their awkward and unenthusiastic reception from the entirely female population. It transpires that there was a gender-specific plague some centuries previously which killed all the men, but left the female population untouched. The women, settlers coming from a technologically advanced society, had genetic engineering techniques sophisticated enough to allow them to produce female children.

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