Lady Business

It's pretty clear from this book, but even more so from the later books, that Radchaai don't have social gender.

“The Athoeki weren’t very civilized.” Not civilized. Not Radchaai. The word was the same, the only difference a subtlety expressed by context, and too easily wiped away. “They mostly aren’t even now. They make a division between people with penises and people without. ”
- Ancillary Sword.

They know that *other cultures* define gender on the basis of whether they have penises or not, but this appears utterly meaningless to Rachaai. Less relevant than what colour eyes you have, because people change eyecolor in the name of fashion, and they aren't displaying their crotch.



You entirely missed the context of that question about reproduction - The sentence, which you cropped (which seems weird), continues:

“I used to wonder how Radchaai reproduced, if they were all the same gender.”
“They’re not. And they reproduce like anyone else.” Strigan raised one skeptical eyebrow. “They go to the medic,” I continued, “and have their contraceptive implants deactivated. Or they use a tank. Or they have surgery so they can carry a pregnancy. Or they hire someone to carry it.”
None of it was very different from what any other kind of people did, but Strigan seemed slightly scandalized. “You’re certainly Radchaai.”


The point here, is that gender is entirely irrelevant to Radchaai reproduction. With their level of medical tech, either gender can carry a baby, use a tank to grow a baby, or use a surrogate.
Cultures with social gender roles see that as weird, as exemplified by Strigan's response.