Patriarchy
The word patriarchy has been derived from the Greek word ‘patriarchies’ which
means “head of the tribe”more specifically,male head of the tribe. Originally it was
used to describe a specific type of male dominated family which included women,
junior men, children, slaves and domestic servants all under the rule of the
dominant male.
● Societies wherein generations of families are linked through the father’s line
are said to be patriarchal in nature. Such societies are also termed as
patrilineal societies.
● On the other hand, generations connected through the mother’s line are said
to be matriarchal in nature and termed as matrilineal societies. The line of
descent in a society delineates the succession of names, property, titles and
other valuables in a family. They can either be passed on through a female
line or through a male line in different societies.
● With the majority of the world’s societies being patrilineal, patriarchal
societies dominate in the world’s cultures whereas matrilineal societies tend
to be primal societies.
Definition :
Oxford Dictionary defines Patriarchy as - A system of society or government
in which the father or the eldest male is the head of the family and descent is
reckoned through the male line.
Today,Patriarchy is based on a system of power relations which are hierarchical
and unequal where men control women.
The nature of patriarchy is different in different classes in some societies,it
varies throughout different periods of history.However,the broad principles
remain the same, that is,men are in control, but the nature of this control may
differ .
For example, the nature of patriarchy is different for tribal women and for upper
caste Hindu women, for women in the USA and women in India.It is mainly
because each social system throws up its own variations on how patriarchy
functions and how social and cultural practices differ.
● Patriarchy is an ideology based on the assertion of male superiority over
women. Today it dominates social organization and thereby exerts control
over the overall spheres of human life such as
political,social,cultural,religious and economic.
Gender Discrimination in Patriarchy :
Traditionally, many societies believed that women are more nurturing than men.
Therefore, the traditional view of the feminine gender role prescribes that women
should behave in ways that are nurturing. One way that a woman might engage in
the traditional feminine gender role would be to nurture her family by working
full-time within the home rather than taking employment outside of the home.
Men, on the other hand, are presumed by traditional views of gender roles to be
leaders. The traditional view of the masculine gender role, therefore, suggests that
men should be the heads of their households by providing financially for the family
and making important family decisions.
Sylvia Walby in her book ‘Theorising Patriarchy’ describes Patriarchy as, “a
system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and
exploit women.” So patriarchy is associated with the rule of men over women.
Walby also distinguishes between two forms of patriarchy.e.,private
patriarchy and public patriarchy.
Private patriarchy appears inside the household with a patriarch controlling
women indirectly in the private sphere of home. A man is considered as the head of
the family who controls women’s sexuality, labor, reproduction and mobility.
Within the household women provide all kinds of free service to their children,
husband and other members of the family, throughout their lives.
Sylbia Walby calls this a ‘patriarchal mode of production’ where women's
labor is expropriated by their husbands and others who live there. It is the
male who takes all decisions within the family. A woman is not allowed to take
even those decisions that affect them.
Men also control women’s reproductive power. In many societies women do not
have the power to decide how many children they should have, when to have them
or whether they can use contraception or terminate pregnancy. According to the
radical feminists women are mainly subjugated because of this burden of child
bearing and rearing. There is hierarchy in which man is considered superior and
dominant whereas woman is inferior and subordinate.
In fact family plays an important role for socializing the next generation
patriarchal values. It is within the family that one learns the lesson of domination,
humiliation, subordination and discrimination.
Public patriarchy, on the other hand, is based on social structures other than the
household i.e.in the public sphere.
Men control women’s labor both within and outside the household.
Men also control women’s mobility.The imposition of parda,limits on interaction
between the sexes are all imposed to controlwomen’s freedom and mobility.
Religion also plays an important role in defining male authority as supreme.
Almost every major religion considers women to be inferior,impure,sinful. They
have been created, interpreted and controlled by upper class and upper class men.
They have defined morality, ethics and even laid down the duties between men and
women.
The legal system in most countries is patriarchal. Laws pertaining to marriage,
divorce and inheritance are closely linked to the patriarchal control over property.
For example,in South Asia, every legal system considers men as the head of the
household, the natural guardian of the children and the inheritor of property.
Men also control the economic institutions,own most property and determine
the value of different productive activities in a patriarchal society.
Women though constitute half of the world’s labor force; their contribution is
hardly recognized and valued.
Patriarchy can take different forms. It is not a universalistic notion, despite the
arguments of critics. The different forms are dependent upon the interaction of
patriarchal structures set out earlier. In different times and places some of the
structures are more important than others. The elimination of any one patriarchal
structure leads to the demise of the system as a whole.
