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History and origin of modern patriarchy

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Anthropological evidence suggests that most modernhunter-gatherer societies are, and hence Neolithic societies probably were, relatively egalitarian, in terms of division of food, and leadership, in contrast to both agrarian societies and other apes, this is described as a "U shaped" deviation from the hierarchical.[1] Erdal and Whiten state that food sharing did not cease until there was either outside trade or means to accumulate private property.[1]

Some feminists propose that Neolithic worship of goddesses reveals widespread female power, but attempts to generalise a global power gendered power structue, gendered or otherwise [2]

[3]

Mother goddess#Çatalhöyük 

 Gerda Lerna asserts that there was no single event, and documents that patriarchy as a social system arose in different parts of the world at different times.[4]

According to Robert M. Strozier, historical research has not yet found a specific "initiating event".[5]

Some scholars[who?] say that some six thousand years ago, when the concept of fatherhood took root,[clarification needed] was the beginning of the spread of patriarchy.[6][7]

Contrary to older stereotypes that a patriarchal structure was extant - and natural - in hunter-gatherer societies, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, patriarchy arose out of a primeval division of labor in which women took care of the home and men, the generation of food through agriculture; as capitalism developed the realm of production became monetized and valued and the realm of the home was never monetized and became devalued, and the perception and power of men and women changed accordingly.[8] Engels in particular, along with other nineteenth-century writers, thought that the previous state was a universal matriarchy.

Gerda Lerner disputes this idea, arguing that patriarchy emerged before the development of class-based society and the concept of private property.[9]

Domination by men of women is found in the Ancient Near East as far back as 3100 BC, as are restrictions on a woman's reproductive capacity and exclusion from "the process of representing or the construction of history".[5] According to some researchers, with the appearance of the Hebrews, there is also "the exclusion of woman from the God-humanity covenant".[5][4]

The archaeologist Marija Gimbutas argues that waves of kurgan-building invaders from the Ukrainian steppes into the early agricultural cultures of Old Europe in the Aegean, the Balkans and southern Italy instituted male hierarchies that led to the rise of patriarchy in Western society.[10] Steven Taylor argues that the rise of patriarchal domination was associated with the appearance of socially stratified hierarchical polities, institutionalised violence and the separated individuated ego associated with a period of climatic stress.[11]

A prominent Greek general Meno, in the Platonic dialogue of the same name, sums up the prevailing sentiment in Classical Greece about the respective virtues of men and women. He says:[12]

First of all, if you take the virtue of a man, it is easily stated that a man's virtue is this—that he be competent to manage the affairs of his city, and to manage them so as to benefit his friends and harm his enemies, and to take care to avoid suffering harm himself. Or take a woman's virtue: there is no difficulty in describing it as the duty of ordering the house well, looking after the property indoors, and obeying her husband.

— Meno, Plato in Twelve Volumes

The works of Aristotle portrayed women as morally, intellectually, and physically inferior to men; saw women as the property of men; claimed that women's role in society was to reproduce and to serve men in the household; and saw male domination of women as natural and virtuous.[13][14][15]

Gerda Lerner, author of The Creation of Patriarchy, states that Aristotle believed that women had colder blood than men, which made women not evolve into men, the sex that Aristotle believed to be perfect and superior. Maryanne Cline Horowitz stated that Aristotle believed that "soul contributes the form and model of creation". This implies that any imperfection that is caused in the world must be caused by a woman because one cannot acquire an imperfection from perfection (which he perceived as male). Aristotle had a hierarchical ruling structure in his theories. Lerner claims that through this patriarchal belief system, passed down generation to generation, people have been conditioned to believe that men are superior to women. These symbols are benchmarks which children learn about when they grow up, and the cycle of patriarchy continues much past the Greeks.[16]

Egypt left no philosophical record, but Herodotus left a record of his shock at the contrast between the roles of Egyptian women and the women of Athens. He observed that Egyptian women attended market and were employed in trade. In ancient Egypt, middle-class women were eligible to sit on a local tribunal, engage in real estate transactions, and inherit or bequeath property. Women also secured loans, and witnessed legal documents. Athenian women were denied such rights.[17]

Greek influence spread, however, with the conquests of Alexander the Great, who was educated by Aristotle.[18]

In the Middle Ages, it is unusual to see women represented as teachers, in particular when the students appear to be monks. She is most likely the personification of Geometry.

From the time of Martin Luther, Protestantism regularly used the commandment in Exodus 20:12 to justify the duties owed to all superiors. The commandment honour thy father, was taken to apply not only to fathers, but elders, and the king.[citation needed]

Although many 16th and 17th century theorists agreed with Aristotle's views concerning the place of women in society, none of them tried to prove political obligation on the basis of the patriarchal family until sometime after 1680. The patriarchal political theory is closely associated with Sir Robert Filmer. Sometime before 1653, Filmer completed a work entitled Patriarcha. However, it was not published until after his death. In it, he defended the divine right of kings as having title inherited from Adam, the first man of the human species, according to Judeo-Christian tradition.[19]

However, in the latter half of the 18th century, clerical sentiments of patriarchy were meeting challenges from intellectual authorities – Diderot's Encyclopedia denies inheritance of paternal authority stating, "... reason shows us that mothers have rights and authority equal to those of fathers; for the obligations imposed on children originate equally from the mother and the father, as both are equally responsible for bringing them into the world. Thus the positive laws of God that relate to the obedience of children join the father and the mother without any differentiation; both possess a kind of ascendancy and jurisdiction over their children...."[20]

In the 19th century, various women began to question the commonly accepted patriarchal interpretation of Christian scripture. One of the foremost of these was Sarah Grimké, who voiced skepticism about the ability of men to translate and interpret passages relating to the roles of the sexes without bias. She proposed alternative translations and interpretations of passages relating to women, and she applied historical and cultural criticism to a number of verses, arguing that their admonitions applied to specific historical situations, and were not to be viewed as universal commands.[21]

Elizabeth Cady Stanton used Grimké's criticism of biblical sources to establish a basis for feminist thought. She published The Woman's Bible, which proposed a feminist reading of the Old and New Testament. This tendency was enlarged by feminist theory, which denounced the patriarchal Judeo-Christian tradition.[22] In his essay, A Judicial Patriarchy: Family Law at the Turn of the Century, Michael Grossberg coined the phrase judicial patriarchy stating that, "The judge became the buffer between the family and the state." and that, "Judicial patriarchs dominated family law because within these institutional and intraclass rivalries judges succeeded in protecting their power over the law governing the hearth.[23]: 290–291 

FIGHT PATRIARCHY: graffiti in Turin (Italy)

Patriarchy is related to institutionalized control, and not merely people’s individual sexism. Much research has been done to understand why females are stereotypically believed to occupy a domestic character while males are projected to pursue qualified fulfillment outside of the household.

Patriarchal structures of discrimination and oppression historically established male privilege by denying females the right to political involvement, in so doing lessening if not eradicating their chances to contribute in the regulations that circumscribe their life. This disunion of work is often plotted onto a social ladder where men's choice to go out of the house and assumed control over females is seen as foremost. Although each society has to have headship and control, patriarchy has thoroughly subjected females to manipulation, abuse, and subordination. Traditionally, patriarchy gave the father of the family complete possession over the spouse or wives, children, etc. as well as the ability to perform physical exploitation and every so often even those of manslaughter and auction.[citation needed]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference erdal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Hughes, Sarah Shaver & Hughes Brady (2001). "Women in Ancient Civilizations". In Adas, Michael (ed.). Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history. Temple University Press. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-1-56639-832-9.
  3. ^ Eagly, Alice H. & Wood, Wendy (June 1999). "The Origins of Sex Differences in Human Behavior: Evolved Dispositions Versus Social Roles". American Psychologist. 54 (6): 408–423. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.54.6.408.
  4. ^ a b Lerner, Gerda (1986). The Creation of Patriarchy. Women and History. Oxford University Press. pp. 8–11. ISBN 978-0195039962.
  5. ^ a b c Strozier, Robert M. (2002) Foucault, Subjectivity, and Identity: Historical Constructions of Subject and Self p. 46
  6. ^ Kraemer, Sebastian (1991). "The Origins of Fatherhood: An Ancient Family Process". Family Process. 30 (4): 377–392. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.1991.00377.x. PMID 1790784.
  7. ^ Ehrenberg, 1989; Harris, M. (1993) The Evolution of Human Gender Hierarchies; Leibowitz, 1983; Lerner, 1986; Sanday, 1981
  8. ^ Keith, Thomas (2017). "Patriarchy, Male Privilege, and the Consequences of Living in a Patriarchal Society". Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture: An Intersectional Approach to the Complexities and Challenges of Male Identity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-31-759534-2.
  9. ^ 1920-2013., Lerner, Gerda (1986). The creation of patriarchy. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195039963. OCLC 13323175. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Gimbutas, Marija (1992). "The end of Old Europe: the intrusion of Steppe Pastoralists from South Russia and the transformation of Europe". The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe. San Francisco, California: Harper Collins. pp. 351–510. ISBN 978-0062503374.
  11. ^ Taylor, Steven (2005). "What's wrong with human beings?". The Fall: The Insanity of the Ego in Human History. Winchester: O Books. pp. 17–19. ISBN 978-1905047208.
  12. ^ W.R.M. Lamb (1967). "71E: Meno". Plato in Twelve Volumes. Vol. 3. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  13. ^ Fishbein, Harold D. (2002). Peer prejudice and discrimination: the origins of prejudice (2nd ed.). Psychology Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8058-3772-8.
  14. ^ Dubber, Markus Dirk (2005). The police power: patriarchy and the foundations of American government. Columbia University Press. pp. 5–7. ISBN 978-0-231-13207-7.
  15. ^ Bar On, Bat-Ami (1994). Engendering origins: critical feminist readings in Plato and Aristotle. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1643-3.
  16. ^ Lerner, Gerda (1986). "Chapter 10: Symbols". The Creation of Patriarchy. New York: Oxford University Press.
  17. ^ Ptahhotep, trans. John A. Wilson. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to The Old Testament. James B. Pritchard, ed. Princeton University Press, 1950. p. 412
  18. ^ Bristow, John Temple (1991). What Paul Really Said About Women: an Apostle's liberating views on equality in marriage, leadership, and love. New York: HarperOne. ISBN 978-0060610630.
  19. ^ Gordon, Schochet (2004). "Patriarchy and Paternalism". Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 068431200X.
  20. ^ "Encyclopedie, Paternal Authority". Digital Library Platform & Services (DLPS), University of Michigan. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  21. ^ Durso, Pamela R. (2003). The Power of Woman: The Life and writings of Sarah Moore Grimké (1st ed.). Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press. pp. 130–138. ISBN 978-0-86554-876-3.
  22. ^ Castro, Ginette (1990). American Feminism: a contemporary history. NYU Press. p. 31.
  23. ^ Gossberg, Michael (1985). "A judicial patriarchy: family law at the turn of the century". In Grossberg, Michael (ed.). Governing the hearth: law and the family in nineteenth-century America. Chapel Hill London: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 289–307. ISBN 9780807863367.
    See also: Gossberg, Michael (1985). "Crossing boundaries: nineteenth-century domestic relations law and the merger of family and legal history". American Bar Foundation Research Journal. 10 (4): 799–847. doi:10.1111/j.1747-4469.1985.tb00520.x.
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