✦ Another theory of the origin of patriarchy states that initially, to manage the population because of the high death rates, women tended to give birth to several children. Some experts suggest that it may have been sometime around 4000 BC, when the idea of fatherhood began to take root in society, though this is a debated issue. [100] These biological traits and others specific to women, such as their ability to get pregnant, are often used against them as an attribute of weakness.[70][100]. 20 Tiny Houses in Washington You Can Rent on Airbnb in 2020! However, it was not published until after his death. [88][89] His theory, the Male Warrior hypothesis, posits that males throughout hominid history have evolved to form coalitions or groups in order to engage in inter-group aggression and increase their chances of acquiring resources, mates and territory. [24] Feminist historian Gerda Lerner believes that male control over women's sexuality and reproductive functions is a fundamental cause and result of patriarchy. In this view, men directed household production and sought to control women in order to ensure the passing of family property to their own (male) offspring, while women were limited to household labor and producing children. Patriarchy is a pattern of society or a system of social administration in which the father or senior male enjoys being the head of the family. Some of these younger men may inherit and therefore have a stake in continuing these conventions. Aristotle had a hierarchical ruling structure in his theories. - Definition & Issues, John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women: Summary & Analysis, Matrilineal & Patrilineal Descent Systems, Co-Curricular Activities: Definition, Advantages & Disadvantages, Introduction to Human Geography: Help and Review, NY Regents Exam - Global History and Geography: Help and Review, Introduction to Humanities: Help and Review, Post-Civil War U.S. History: Help and Review, Foundations of Education: Help and Review, Introduction to Macroeconomics: Help and Review, High School World History: Help and Review. ✦ Some studies suggest that the average American woman earns only about 75-80% of what the average American man earns, despite working the same, or even more. Gender is different. This leads to boys being convinced of their supposed superiority over females from childhood. The Indian culture, often labeled as an amalgamation of several various cultures, spans across the Indian subcontinentand has been influenced and shaped by a history that is several thousand years old. 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. [42], In China's Ming Dynasty, widowed women were expected to never remarry, and unmarried women were expected to remain chaste for the duration of their lives. In its being both systematic and universal, therefore, the concept of patriarchy represents an adaptation of the Marxist concept of class and class struggle. [67][68] This may be due to the fact that males of bonobos have a very small amount of testosterone compared to males of chimpanzees, the reason being that males of bonobos evolved in an environment different from chimpanzees, and they did not have to compete for resources and females. Women and children are not expected to go against anything the patriarch says or does. ✦ Though it isn’t largely patriarchal anymore, the American society was traditionally a male-dominated one. [70], Some sociobiologists, such as Steven Goldberg, argue that social behavior is primarily determined by genetics, and thus that patriarchy arises more as a result of inherent biology than social conditioning.