We explain what patriarchal society is, how it originated and its relationship with machismo. Also, how it can be combated.
What is a patriarchal society?
A patriarchal society is a socio-cultural configuration that grants man predominance, authority and advantages over the womanwho remains in a relationship of subordination and dependency. This type of society is also called patriarchy.
To this day, most human societies are patriarchal, despite progress towards equality between men and women over the last two centuries. In addition to thousands of years of custom, patriarchy It is supported by a cultural tradition and a series of social and political institutionsmore or less openly.
For example, in many religious texts such as Bible The authority of man over woman is made explicit (he says that he will “lord it over” her, as over animals) and the latter is called to a life of obedience and modesty.
Of course, patriarchal society does not manifest itself in the same way in all cases. In some societies it may be more brutal (such as in traditional Islamic societies, where women must hide from men's sight and have fewer civil rights) or more lax.
However, there is clear evidence of the extent to which this type of society is rooted in our history. For example, until the middle of the 20th century, women in the West did not even have the right to vote.
Origin of patriarchal culture
Most approaches to the subject agree that patriarchal domination arose sometime close to the development of agriculture. Thanks to this new practice, primitive human society settled and abandoned nomadism, depending on the cultivation of the land and the domestication of animals.
This change occurred 12,000 years ago during the so-called Neolithic Revolution. As a consequence, private property was invented, since the first peasants ensured their own ownership of arable land.
In the same way A property regime was established for women, which would give men children to till the land.. Thus, society was organized around patrilineage and the male administration of resources, since the strongest men were better suited for agricultural work.
However, there is debate around these types of conclusions, which run the risk of assuming patriarchy as a “natural” order. On the contrary, in the evolution of human societies it is not so much biology that intervenes, but social and cultural dynamics.
Patriarchy and machismo
The main expression of a patriarchal society is machismo. This translates into an aggressive, possessive, lording attitude on the part of men towards women, who are thus reduced to a secondary category in terms of decisions, property ownership and legal exercises.
Machismo has many different ways of manifesting itself, even under the appearance of protectionist discourses that victimize women and assume they are weak, incapable, and therefore in need of men to look after them and decide for them.
In turn, machismo engenders forms of discrimination of all kinds: lower salaries for women for doing the same work, lower professional ceilings, and even forms of violence such as sexual harassment, and even feminicide.
How do you combat patriarchal society?
The fight against patriarchy is not a simple issue, nor does it only concern women. A more egalitarian society would also benefit menallowing them to escape from patterns of suffocating and toxic masculinity, which teach them to repress their feelings, to bond through violence, or to confuse love with possession.
In that sense, the fight against patriarchy would involve:
- The “deconstruction” of toxic masculinity. Normalize less traditional forms of masculinity, allow diversity and acceptance of less conventional ways of “being a man.”
- Give voice to women. The inclusion of women in society as an equal necessarily involves giving them greater participation quotas, making their contributions, efforts and sufferings visible, and allowing women's voices to enjoy the same respect. consideration and authority than that of man. This is a long path of cultural change that cannot happen overnight.
- Understanding feminism. Far from what many believe, feminism is not a new school of thought, nor does it promote hatred of men, nor does it aspire to a matriarchal society. It is a form of critical thinking that exposes the articulations of machismo that cannot be perceived because they are very normalized by custom. Informing yourself about it and learning to value the contributions of feminism is a way to fight against patriarchy.
Matriarchy
In theory, matriarchy would be the social and political regime in which dominance would fall to womenthat is, the opposite of patriarchy. Such an organization has never existed in the history of humanityunless there is a record.
However, many anthropology scholars agree that judging by the current hunter-gatherer cultures, which early humanity would have resembled, Women at some point played a much more active and leading role in society.which would have even allowed polyandry.
On the other hand, there are cultures today that value the distribution of properties (especially land) based on maternal transmission, in what is known as matrilineage. This gives them a much more dominant role in leading society, but it does not establish something that can properly be called matriarchy.
Continue in: Matriarchy
References
- “Patriarchy” on Wikipedia.
- “Matriarchy” on Wikipedia.
- “What is patriarchy?” in Women in Network.
- “How to know if we live in a patriarchy. A Historical Perspective” by Helen Pluckrose on Medium.
- “The origins of sexism: How men came to rule 12,000 years ago” in NewScientist.
- “Patriarchy” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
