History of The Patriarchal System Within Society And Religion:
How Male Dominance Was Entrenched Over Time
This is the first in a series of articles covering several issues surrounding the overall topics of patriarchy, masculinity, feminism and the pervading epidemic of domestic and sexual violence towards women.
Before we start, I think it’s important to both quantify and explain the patriarchal system we live in today — just in case there are people out there who still don’t believe patriarchy exists. So firstly, here are a few facts:
- Women make up more than two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate people.
- Women are 47% more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men.
- 650 million women alive today were child brides, and 33,000 girls become child brides every day.
- According to the World Economic Forum’s most recent Global Gender Gap report, it will take 108 years to close the gender pay gap at the current rate of progress.
- On average, women around the world spend more than twice as many hours as men doing unpaid work.
- More specifically, Women report spending an average of 13 hours on housework and 23 hours on family caring per week; the equivalent figures for men are 8 and 10 hours.
- Workplace software company Hive analysed anonymised data for more than three thousand women and men and found that not only do women complete more work on average, but they are assigned 55% of all work, compared with 45% assigned to men.
- A World Bank study found that only 6 countries give women equal legal work rights as men.
- In the UK, 97% of women aged between 16–24 reported being sexually harassed.
- March 2020 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 1.6 million adults aged 16 to 74 years had experienced sexual assault by rape or penetration (including attempts) since the age of 16.
- Almost half of these women (49%) had been a victim more than once.
- In these cases, 98% of the perpetrators were male.
Of course, there are plenty more shocking statistics out there — but that has hopefully given a brief overview of some of the many problems which women face as a result of a patriarchal system which routinely undervalues and diminishes the work and experiences of 50% of our population.
Patriarchy itself can be described in a number of ways, though perhaps the simplest and clearest definition comes for Dr Gerda Lerner who describes “an institutionalised pattern of male dominance in society”, which has given men “advantages that they shouldn’t have and to which they are not entitled”. Whilst this is certainly correct — as evidenced by the statistics above — I think it’s also important to note that the current system, whereby society defines us all with gender roles to conform to, can also be damaging to men. Elle Beau describes patriarchy as “robbing all men of core aspects of their humanity”, whilst Charlie Glickman has explained the concept of a ‘Man Box’ — a set of “rigid expectations” that men are supposed to follow: “A real man is strong and stoic. He doesn’t show emotions other than anger and excitement…He is a ‘man’s man’”. Essentially, both women and men can have vastly differing experiences of patriarchy and this can result in negative consequences for everyone, though clearly the current system affords males with a significant level of privilege and comfort which many women simply cannot access.
Nevertheless, issues which some men face as a result of the patriarchy is a this is a discussion for a different article. The focus of this piece is to discuss the problems women have faced throughout history and how this system of male dominance came into place.
Many historians have noted that, contrary to patriarchy being a ‘natural’ state of affairs — where women and men immediately became separated into a hierarchical system at the outset of humanity — male dominance only truly came into existence between 10–12,000 years ago, and is thought to have coincided with the introduction of agriculture and militarism.
Renee Girlich, who has studied early human culture, argues that humans actually lived in matrilineal societies (where ancestry is traced through the female line) from around 80–90,000 years ago, with men and women sharing tasks such as making tools, clothes, hunting and gathering.
Historical evidence appears to show that, originally at least, male dominance was accidental — with women bearing and raising children near constantly due to lower life spans and high infant mortality rates. Dr Lerner explains that this was “not an evil conspiracy of men”, but that a ‘functional’ sexual division of labour was created” which was approved of by both men and women at the time.
Girlich also notes that a key factor within the establishment of patriarchy was men understanding their role in creating children. She notes that: “for most of our past, people did not connect sexual intercourse with the much later event of women giving birth”. Following this discovery, which she traces back to around 4000BC in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq/Iran), “the murder of firstborn children became common as men sought to ensure a wife’s firstborn was ‘his own’”. Society soon became ‘patrilineal’ (where ancestry is traced through the male line).
In addition, as tribes had begun to mix and interconnect more regularly, patriarchy began to develop further as women were used in marriage exchanges. They were also taken as slaves whenever war-faring tribes would prove victorious over a rival group — as women were playing the role of child-bearers, they were less frequently seen on the battlefield. As Marvin Harris describes, “under these conditions, the greater average strength and height of the human male became critically important”, with characteristics of physicality and aggressiveness soon becoming essential parts of masculinity.
Masculinity, Harris explains, “was also instilled by subjecting boys to intense physical ordeals”, including circumcision, sleep deprivation and trials of stamina. For males in this combat environment, Harris also notes that “sex was the reward”, with men receiving “wives and concubines” after successful battles.
Women therefore began to be viewed as property of either groups who had won battles, or by weaker groups wanting to keep attackers at bay, which gradually weakened the ability of women to be seen on even-footing to male counterparts. Girlich suggests captured and raped women became “loyal for the sake of their children” and, as such, ‘it was difficult for women to escape”.
Whilst this may be linked to biological factors, Lerner contends that this has more to do with the “stage of human development when women had to nurse babies all the time”. Thankfully, due to positive changes in the longevity of human life and in the mortality rates of children, women do not now spend their whole adult lives raising children — though this has sadly not led to women achieving an equal status in society.
Following the human discoveries of the conception process and the relegation of women to the role of child-bearers, the development of organised religion further entrenched the hierarchical system between the sexes.
As Nishat Amber has written: “almost all organised religions propagate the idea of male superiority” and restrict “a women’s choices over her body, sexuality, lifestyle, clothes and just about everything”.
These kinds of restrictions are particularly prominent in the Old Testament of the Bible, with women regularly being portrayed as either meek and, therefore, virtuous or as dangerous sexual temptresses. Eve, the first woman we see in the Bible, is shown to be weak and is assigned blame for leading Adam into sin. In addition, women have been thought of as less close to God as a result of Eve being not directly made my God as Adam is, but instead formed from the rib of her husband. Throughout the history of Christianity, this story has been used by Christian philosophers as evidence of women’s vulnerability to temptation, which has itself been used to justify patriarchy.
One of the most important Christian scholars in history, St. Thomas Aquinas, thought the Genesis story showed that women were ‘defective and misbegotten’. This belief led him to argue that women should not be allowed to become Priests, an idea which has persisted in the Catholic Church from its outset to the present day — with even the supposedly liberal Pope Francis stating that “the door is closed” regarding female ordination as Priests.
Aside from the negative connotations of Eve’s ‘fall’ in the first book of the Bible, the rest of the Old Testament is certainly no kinder to women. There are hundreds of Laws outlined in the Old Testament, and many have been responsible for establishing negative attitudes towards women within Judaism and Christianity. For example, in Deuteronomy 22, it is not only stated that a women can be put to death if she is found not have been a virgin when married, but also that if an unmarried virgin woman is raped then her rapist must marry her (as she is no longer a virgin and therefore no one else can marry her). In addition, Deuteronomy 25 explains that a woman whose husband dies must marry her husband’s brother. These rules not only apply ridiculous double standards to women, but further take away their free choice in how they live their lives.
Whilst a lot of the New Testament is far more liberal in several ways to the Old Testament written many thousands of years earlier, women still do not get an easy ride. 1 Timothy 2:9–13 for example, generally assumed to be written by the Apostle Paul, notes that “a women should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet”. In Titus 2: 3–5, older women are told to “urge the younger women to love their husbands…to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home…and to be subject to their husbands”.
Such statements reinforce the subjugation of women within their own communities and even their own families, with women relegated to cleaners, cooks and carers within the home– ideas which have taken thousands of years to overcome.
Of course, the other major religions are far from egalitarian in their treatment of women. In Islam, women cannot lead prayers as ‘imams’ in mosques and in mixed gatherings. Amber describes how, Hindu temples rarely allow women priests as they are viewed as “biologically unfit for the jobs” as “menstruating women are deemed impure and unfit for sacred duties”.
Another facet of the entrenchment of patriarchy through religion is regarding sexuality and reproductive rights. Religions consistently allow men to have multiple sexual partners (even multiple wives), whilst women are told they have to be sexually exclusive. A woman must remain a virgin until marriage, and must be faithful to their husband even if he doesn’t remain faithful to her. Some religions even showcase the sexual exclusivity of women through indicators such as the Sindoor, a red powder worn by Hindu women to show that they are faithful to their husbands, and the Hijab/Niqab, Islamic veils which are seen to ‘protect’ women from the “male gaze and possible sexual misadventures”.
Amber explains how the reinforcement of such standards over time causes women “to not only accept, but also gladly embrace the status of a second-class citizen”. This reinforcement affects other aspects of social life, with the concept of genders in society clearly affected by religious rules. She notes that women are consistently reduced to “socially, economically and spiritually inferior beings whose primary role is procreation”.
To me, it seems somewhat fundamental within an understanding that a higher power created the world and humanity itself to suggest that every evolutionary facet of society must be a ‘rule’ which God put in place for a reason — to make society work. In the mind of the religious, if God — an all-perfect, all-knowing force, has made men and women the way they are — then this must be the desirable state of affairs. Therefore, the biological factors which enable women to bear children, and men to be physically superior, are viewed as their sole purpose — and we as humans, cannot outperform or supersede the natural roles which ‘God’ laid out for us.
Added to this is that the lack of true biological understanding before and during the medieval period meant that women simply being smaller than men implied smaller brains and hence, less intelligence, which men certainly used as a ‘reason’ for subjugating women further and enhancing their own positions of power within society. As Aquinas wrote in his Summa Theologica, “she (women) is inferior in body, inferior in mind, and inferior morally of will and moral self-control…male-female hierarchy was not just a product of sin, it was part of the natural order created by God”.
Another poignant element is that that, within almost all major religions (with the monotheistic Hindu religion being the main exception) — God is shown to be a man. In addition, the prophet Muhammad; Jesus is male; Moses is male; Guru Nanak is male; Buddha is male. The leading figures in virtually all regions are men, and there are few positive female role models to speak of. As Amber notes: “Scriptures are mostly written and interpreted by men who tweak and translate them to suit their own vision of the desirable social-order and preferable gender-dynamics in the same.”
Interestingly, as with early human society in general, many scholars have argued that early religions were matriarchal, with God portrayed as a woman — based on iconography which is ‘feminine-themed’. Whilst this is up for debate, it is clear that (likely due to the aforementioned lack of knowledge of sex being the cause of children being born) women were viewed as creators of life during early history. Even some of the major religions we have already discussed were not necessarily patriarchal in their early days. Karen Armstrong has noted that, prior to the introduction of Islam in the Arab world, women were viewed as objects; but that the advent of Islamic religion originally allowed women to gain more autonomy than before. Furthermore, an early Hindu text suggests that feminine energy is behind the creation of the universe. It has been suggested therefore, that it was later on that “men moulded religion to suit their patriarchal leanings”, with every religion eventually propounding misogynistic and repressive beliefs towards women — undoubtedly leading to the relegation of women within society.
Whether it was early human society which affected religious teachings, or the nature of organised religion altogether which have brought about such misogynistic attitudes, the role of religion has certainly allowed patriarchy to remain intact for so much of human history. Though this does not necessarily mean that there can be no positive role for religion within civilisation, with 84% of the world’s population identifying with a religious group, this may be preventing a push for a more egalitarian society.
Nevertheless, up until very recently (and really only in the western world), religious leaders have had significant power over societal discourse. Even in western countries such as Ireland, religious fervour has prevented women from being allowed the right to abortion until 2018. And in America, the relevance of the Evangelical vote in US elections has led Republican politicians to consistently argue for restrictions to abortion rights — with former President Trump nominating three anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court, with potentially disastrous consequences for a woman’s right to choose in years to come.
There are obviously other factors which can explain why the hierarchical system of power along gender lines has been kept in place for so long. Though regardless of the power of religion, or society in general, in preventing a more equal society — over the course of history, some progress has been made. In the early 1900’s, women being granted the vote would have seemed ridiculous, and feminist heroes such as the Suffragettes and the Dagenham Machinists have markedly improved the position of women today. This is far from enough, as the facts at the start of this article prove, and my next piece will try to highlight how difficult life can still be for women and girls in the 21st Century. And change will not happen on its own — it is in our hands to be making a difference which will create a fairer, and less difficult world for 50% of the population.
I hope this article has enabled people to learn a bit more about how patriarchy originated, and how such a system was not an inevitable consequence of humanity — but that it was the organisation of society by (almost exclusively) men which has forced women to live as second-class citizens for much of human existence. If you did find this interesting, I recommend checking out some of the links below which discuss the history of patriarchy and feminist movements in more detail. In addition, I am planning to publish the next article in the series shortly, so I hope you can give that a read as well.
Further Reading:
