These people live in a culture where matriliny is the norm, not one where the women necessarily rule. Here is a quote from the article:

"The tradition of excluding women from the political decision making process is still very strong in their culture."

The coverage on this topic was very shallow and I don't think we have anywhere near a complete picture.

A lot of those rats are just adorable! The issue is really whether they pose a health hazard within this human-generated environment. If they were an endangered species, many people would see their presence differently and find ways to accomodate them.

Stephen Hawking is a physicist, not a sociologist nor a behavioural scientist.

Yes, humans have behaved badly in the past when arriving at new territories with peoples of lesser military technology. Yes, some current peoples might do the same given a similar opportunity. BUT generally speaking we have become more sensitised to the issues and ethics of mistreating other peoples. Why wouldn't peoples of another planet?

In order to develop the sort of technology and coordinate the effort to travel from one inhabited planet to another would require 1) A people secure enough and supportive enough of free-thought to allow innovation and 2) A high level of planet wide cooperation to bring together the resources needed to take such a journey. The trip itself would be so lengthy, they would also have to be so self-sufficient that they would have little need of our resources specifically.

I remember an era of thought when we looked out in space and anticipated contact with peaceful and wise sapient beings. This may or may not come about, but what does it say about us that we now look out and see only fear and a need for violence. A bear is neither good nor bad, it behaves as it needs to and can be violent or peaceful depending upon the circumstances. Perhaps we should approach extra-terrestrial beings like bears, carefully but worthy of respect and the possiblity of a peaceful interaction.