The Juggernaut of Patriarchy

Karl Marx - " The family is an arrangement to derive unpaid labour out of women "

Aristotle - " The male by nature is superior and the female inferior. The male is the ruler and female the subject ".

All liberal texts talk about how all humans are the same and deserve to be treated equally. Yet we all are part of a system which systematically oppresses women in ways which today we take for granted. So how does this juggernaut of male chauvinism work? How is our society structurally organised to help contain women and leave them as objects of desirability? Was the system always like this? 

How do seemingly gender neutral concepts like technology , productivity , monarchy , militarisation of society etc. contributed in making our society patriarchal. Today we answer this and much more!

Questions Addressed

1. If all humans were created equal by God , how did one sex assume superiority over the other? What is the evolution of patriarchy?

2. How do factors such as technology , militarisation of the society and division of society into rigid classes lead to a patriarchal society?

3. How does it explain the patriarchy in contemporary modern societies?

4. Why is rural India more patriarchal than urban India? Why do states which saw successful green revolution have the lowest sex ratio?

5. If modern societies are egalitarian why is urban India still Patriarchal? Why do crimes against women are common on urban streets?

Analysis

Rae Lesser Blumberg and Randal Collins in their book ' Structural Model of Gender Stratification ' came up with an observation regarding the level of Gender inequality throughout various phases in history.

They observe that the level of inequality is the least in nomadic hunting and gathering society. The inequality peaks in the irrigated agriculture based societies and again declines in modern societies.

They talk about 3 external factors that impact the level of patriarchy in the society.

1. Technology

The level of technology determines the productivity in economic activities and the surplus produced in a society. 

With the most primitive technology in the hunters and gatherers, the society was most egalitarian. The men mostly indulged in hunting while the women were gathering fruits and other plant based items.

Hence women's labour was indispensable to the survival of these communities. Thus , women were treated in par with men.

As the technology developed and humans learnt basic agriculture ( Shifting cultivation ) some surplus food started being produced. Also ,men indulged in cultivation and women played a supportive role. The indispensability of the women's labour now reduced. The community was now not totally dependent on women's labour for survival.

Similarly as we moved towards irrigated agriculture , more and more surplus food was being produced and women's labour became almost dispensable i.e the community could do without women participating in economic activities.

Also as men started producing more surplus , they wanted to transfer it to their own offspring after death. However prior to the conception of family , it was impossible to determine the father of the human offspring. Hence the concept of family was propagated to contain the sexuality of women and hence determine the fathers. It allowed for transfer of surplus property and wealth to the offspring. ( Karl Marx - theory of historical materialism )

It must be noted that , initially family was an arrangement created only to contain the sexuality of women. Practice of polygamy was widely prevalent in men. This reduced the worth of women in the society from an economic asset to that of a status symbol.

2. Division of society in classes

As technological advancements took place and surplus started being produced in the economy some changes took place.

Those who were more efficient were able to produce more surplus , and hence they occupied higher status in the society. In such cases , with higher surplus being produced the women were not required to participate in economic activities.

Thus , women in higher classes lost their economic role and their worth started being dependent on their desirability. This focus on judging a women's worth based on her desirability led to objectification of women. Women started being treated as objects of status symbol.

Now , considering the lower classes. The lower strata in any society looks up to the elite and idealises them and their culture. Thus , as patriarchy cropped up in the higher strata , the people in lower strata also started to look down upon their women as objects of desire.

However, for this class the women's labour was still not indispensable hence the level of subjugation was lower compared to higher classes.

Also among the elites , a need was felt to maintain their superiority by making alliances to maintain power. Marriage was used as a tool for making alliances. This practice also intensified the subjugation of women in the elite class.

3. Level of militarisation

Consider the monarchical societies in the medivial period. The advancement in agriculture was still low hence the amount of food produced was largely dependent on the cultivable area. 

Thus a need was felt to expand the areas under cultivation. This required an organised male dominated army. Thus another avenue of power was created which left out the women.

Whenever a new area was plundered , the women being reduced to objects of desire were looted along with gold and other precious metals.

Thus, it was observed that more the level of militarisation in a society more is the subjugation of women. 

This can be observed even today e.g the Taliban society , ISIS , military dictatorships etc. experience higher levels of patriarchy.

All these 3 factors work independently in determining the level of patriarchy in a society. Some societies may have more militarisation but lower technological development and rigid Stratification leading to different levels of patriarchy.

The peculiar case of contemporary modern societies.

Majority of the modern societies today have a capitalistic economy. Consumerism is a vital aspect of such societies i.e luxurious living is promoted and accruing  more and more wealth is incentivised. 

In such a scenario no amount of wealth is enough to make the women's labour indispensable. The working women in family allow for more wealth which is in consonance with the principles of capitalism. 

Thus , the level of patriarchy declined in industrial society compared to the agrarian society.

Let us understand this better with the help of an example from India.

Green revolution in Indian agriculture led to increase in incomes of the farmers. It made the agriculture capitalistic in nature which was now focussed on making profits rather than subsistence.

Hence going by the principles discussed above about capitalist mindset the level of patriarchy in such societies must be low. However , according to census 2011 the states with successful green revolution have the poorest sex ratio in the country.

This can be explained as -

The cost of living in rural areas is much less compared to urban areas.

The level of consumerism in the rural societies is also much lower compared to urban societies.

Thus , even a small increase in income of a family makes the labour of women dispensable. Hence women are stopped from working.

 This intensifies patriarchal mindset and is manifested in the form of female foeticide leading to lower sex ratio.

While we are discussing rural India let us also look at another factor in green revolution which helped intensify patriarchy in rural India.

In the traditional agriculture , women had several roles to play. They were the seed keepers , they fed and took care of the cattle used for ploughing. Hence they played their part in the economic activities.

With green revolution , heavy machinery was introduced in agriculture. Affected by stereotypes that women can't handle heavy machinery , the machines were designed keeping the male body in mind. 

Thus women lost their role in the production process and were reduced to staying at home.

Caste and Patriarchy

The Sanskrit texts such as manusmriti which laid down rules and laws for the Hindus society prohibited pratiloma vivah i.e a woman of higher caste marrying a man of lower caste.

But men of higher caste were allowed to have relations with the women of lower castes.

Thus , the onus of maintaining the 'purity of caste ' was left to women of the caste. So many new restrictions were imposed on women , especially those of higher castes. This further led to their subordination.

The case of Urban India

The urban India is largely composed of first generation migrants to cities. Also there is sex selective migration with mostly men migrating to cities.

Thus with migration the rural men bring the rural patriarchal mindset to cities. When they see urban women ' roaming in streets freely and participating in economic activities ' they face a culture shock.

The patriarchal mindset in them sometimes does not accept this and they take it upon themselves to correct the situation. This leads to violence against women in cities.

Asset Vs Liability

Traditionally in India , the male child is expected to take care of old parents. Hence , a male child gives a sense of security to the parents leading to a preference for the male child.

This is intensified with the stigma attached to old age homes in India. If somehow destigmatization of bureaucratic old age care institutions can be ensured , it can allow the parents to give up their preference for male child. 

This would help in improving the declining child sex ratio in India.

Patriarchy is a system which has continued to evolve since the time immemorial. Hence it will take time for an alternative functional system to emerge. The road for women's emancipation goes through economic participation and ensuring the economic indispensability of their labour as has been observed throughout history.

For example : during the first world war , when all the ' men ' were at war , women took control of the factories and worked as labour. This ensured the economic indispensability of their labour. It was then that the suffragette movement was born ( modern day feminism ) and women got the right to vote for the first time in UK. It was also the same time in 1919 when women got the right to vote for the first time in India.

Amit Chauhan!!

P.S. there may be several other factors that have contributed to patriarchal system in India. So kindly avoid pointing out some specific points that I may have missed. I have focussed on how the structure of organisation of the society has resulted in patriarchy.

Hope you learnt something new!