Patriarchy Effects on Society

Patriarchy, according to Keith (2017), is a social structure where women are controlled by men because they hold the power of financial superiority over women. Patriarchy has become a way to live in many societies around the globe. The idea of ‘putting men as the leader of human race’ is seen as something that everyone should agree on. This social notion has triggered disagreement from many social groups for the past decades. Men superiority has influenced the way the world ‘works’, moreover, how the life of women get negative impacts of it. It leads to men’s domination, the violation of women’s right, and the spread of masculinity.

The first effect of patriarchy is its significant supremacy on men’s role on society. It allows men to dominate almost every field of works. The stigma believed by society that men can do better than women because men rely more on logic rather than emotions women psychologically believed are more rely on to has become so-called ‘universal truth’. This leads to the fact that women become underrated. It becomes harder for women to make their path to careers they desire, particularly in which leadership and organizational skills are needed. There are not many women given the chance to run a company or to have political influences, neither in academic institutions as teachers nor as students. This condition is called male privilege. Keith (2017) points out that this system gives men freedom to hegemonize the economy, political, social, and educational fields. They could focus on their paid jobs while women are told to stay at home and take care of children. The domination of men also occurs in family. Engels (1884) states that man is above woman because it is his duty to fulfill the family’s needs, and when the two got separated, it is the man’s right to claim all the households as his properties.

Not only does patriarchy stimulate men’s domination, but also does it lead to the violation of women’s right. The discrimination towards women creates such stereotypes where women are ‘below’ men. Women are expected to agree on whatever decisions men make. Sometimes women are treated as if they were material things, or property. This encourages many movements started by feminists to emphasize their position on society, that they are equal to men and have the same right as men do, that their voice weighs the same. Although at some points women now are getting noticed, it is not an easy thing to erase the kind of belief that has rooted inside people’s minds throughout centuries.

Over and above that, men are believed to be stronger, and better. The attempts of women to destroy such labels have led to female masculinity. Men’s behavior, roles, and identity are qualified by masculinity according to Addis and Cohane (2005). However, in her book Female Masculinity, Halberstam (1998) believes that masculinity is identical to male because society has rejected the idea of female masculinity so that the former could overshadow the latter. The phenomenon shows us women’s attempt to get recognition and to create an image that sex is not a determiner of someone to become masculine and to own the qualities of becoming ‘man’.

To summarize, patriarchy or men’s superiority creates a way to live that does not allow the opposite sex to stand out or to lead their own life. It represses women’s right. It shapes society to turn down women whenever they are compared to men. It triggers women to be more aggressive and skeptical towards men and society. The ‘gender fluidity’ is also the effect caused by this stance. The results of patriarchy have divided the world into two, and have made conflicts throughout the world. In sum, men’s domination does not suit the world we live in now; the world has changed so society should learn how to move on. 

Writer : Dheadarasatiti Wi Detara

REFERENCE(S)
Keith, T. (2017) Masculinities in Contemporary American Culture. New York: Routledge pp. 3-7.
Engels, F. (1884) Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State. New York: International Publishers.
Addis, M. E., & Cohane, G. H. (2005) Social Scientific Paradigms of Masculinity and Their Implications for Research and Practice in Men’s Mental Health. Worcester: Clark University Press.

Halberstam, J. (1998) Female Masculinity. Durham: Duke University Press pp. 1-2.