Patriarchy reinforces sexist attitudes and beliefs, and provides men with the power to act on them. This can result in women being denied equal rights and opportunities, or experiencing violence and abuse. Sexism, on its own, can also lead to discrimination and oppression.
Patriarchy encourages male leadership, male domination and male power. It is a system in which women are subject to economic dependence, violence, domestication and the peripherals of decision-making. It imposes structures that categorise some types of work as “men's work” and some as “women's work” (Reardon, 1996).
From genital mutilation, malnutrition, sexual and domestic violence, online bullying, to everyday casual sexism. We all suffer from these oppressive systems of injustice in our own ways.
Patriarchal societies reward and validate women for submitting their power making it difficult for young women to choose over their primary roles as homemakers and caregivers and prioritize careers instead.
Some feminist theorists believe that patriarchy is an unjust social system that is harmful to both men and women. It often includes any social, political, or economic mechanism that evokes male dominance over women.
Anxiety. Depression. Low self-esteem. Learned helplessness: women who have been exposed to cycles of physical and psychological abuse for so long that they don't do anything to escape them.
For example, feminists claim that marriage works in favour of the husband because he gains an unpaid servant to take care of both his conjugal needs and the upkeep of the home. The exploitation of women within a marriage reflects deeper structural inequalities within a male-dominated society.
Women's Oppression Today is a classic text in the debate about Marxism and feminism, exploring how gender, sexuality and the “family-household system” operate in relation to contemporary capitalism.
Men as well as women are damaged by patriarchy. For example, masculine men are hurt when they learn to repress emotions and to deny their needs for connection and intimacy in order to avoid being punished as sissies and to maintain the con- trol necessary to protect themselves from other men.
A key feature of Patriarchy is the notion of traditional gender roles. Traditional gender roles cast men as strong, decisive, rational and protective while women are seen as emotional, irrational, weak, nurturing and submissive.
Matriarchy is essentially a woman-oriented society, wherein all the leadership and authority rest in the hands of women. Patriarchy, on the other hand, is a social system, wherein males enjoy all the powers, control, and authority, and women are given subordinate roles.
Feminism has provided Western women with increased educational opportunities, the right to vote, protections against workplace discrimination, and the right to make personal decisions about pregnancy. In some communities, feminism has also succeeded in challenging pervasive cultural norms about women.
Characteristics of a Patriarchal System
Those characteristics are Male Domination, Male Identification, Male Centeredness, and Obsession with Control.
Patriarchy examples include hiring practices that discriminate against women, exclusion of women from decision-making, institutional discrimination against women, and the relegation of women to the domestic sphere.
Victims of patriarchy in this context refer to those who do not satisfy the gender stereotypical characteristics drawn by the patriarchal system and whose voices are unheard in society.
If we talk about Today's scenario, many women are still facing the issues like gender discrimination, sexual abuse and harassment, education, child marriage, and what not? Women are elevated to the position of goddesses in India. However, the difficulties they encounter merely show the inverse of this idea.
Walby discusses what she calls the six "structures" of patriarchy-paid work, housework, culture, sexuality, violence, and the state. In terms of their interrela- tion, Walby argues that each of these structures impact upon one another but are also relatively autonomous.
An example of patriarchy is the tradition that family name comes from the man. The wife would change her family name for her husband's name, and then their children will also carry his name. Another example of patriarchy is how men would typically hold positions of power in their career.
Patriarchal beliefs of male, heterosexual dominance and the devaluation of girls and women lie at the root of gender-based violence. Patriarchy is a structural force that influences power relations, whether they are abusive or not.
It affects many aspects of life, from political leadership, business management, religious institutions, economic systems and property ownership, right down to the family home where men are considered to be the head of the household.
Psychological patriarchy is the dynamic between those qualities deemed “masculine” and “feminine” in which half of our human traits are exalted while the other half is devalued. Both men and women participate in this tortured value system.
Normalisation Of Patriarchy
The transmission of patriarchal values and ideas from one generation to another occurs in the socialisation process. Socialisation is the process of internalising the norms and ideologies of society.
For example, Jade's responses to the first two questions summarized the reading by merely listing; in response to the question "Describe Johnson's four core values of patriarchy," she listed the four categories rather than offering any elaboration ("Male Dominance, Male Identification, Male Centeredness, Male Control") ...