What is Patriarchy?
By Alda Facio
Translated from the Spanish by Michael Solis
2013
The concept of Patriarchy itself is not a contribution of feminist theories. Many
social scientists in the nineteenth century wrote about it as a more civilized or complex
form of organization compared to the primitive matriarchies1. Engels referred to it as
the earliest system of domination establishing that Patriarchy is “the world historical
defeat of the female sex.”2 In this sense, it is said that Patriarchy was a form of
political organization that distributed power unequally between men and women to the
detriment of women. The Royal Academy of the Spanish Language Dictionary defines
Patriarchy as “
A primitive social organization in which authority is exercised by a male
head of the family, extending this power even to distant relatives of the same lineage
.”
Feminist theories updated and expanded the understanding of Patriarchy in the
second half of the twentieth century. In fact, the social sciences had left it behind
precisely because it was considered only to apply to and characterize ancient
civilizations. But for many feminists, Patriarchy is much more than civilizations that
existed in the ancient past and goes beyond “
the unequal distribution of power between
men and women in certain aspects of our societies
”, as many dictionaries still define it.
On the contrary, most forms of feminism characterize Patriarchy as a present day
unjust social system that subordinates, discriminates or is oppressive to women. As
Carole Pateman writes, "The patriarchal construction of the difference between
masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection."3
For me, the concept of Patriarchy includes all the socio-political mechanisms, which I
call Patriarchal Institutions, which reproduce and exert male dominance over women.
Feminist theory typically characterizes Patriarchy as a social construction, which can be
overcome by revealing and critically analyzing its manifestations4 and institutions.
Fixating on real and perceived biological differences between the two recognized
sexes5, men justify their domination on the basis of an alleged biological inferiority of
women. Both feminist and non feminist thinkers recognize that Patriarchy has its
historical origins in the family, the leadership (legal and practical) of which is exercised
1 There is now evidence that the matriarchies these scientists were talking about were not “matriarchies” in the strict sense of the
word but matrilineal or matrifocal forms of social organization. While recognizing that there is considerable variation in the role that
gender plays in human societies, there are no known human examples of strictly matriarchal cultures. There are a number of societies
that have been shown to be matrilineal, matrifocal, matrilocal or gynocentric, especially among indigenous tribal groups. Some hunter-
gatherer groups have been characterized as largely egalitarian.
2 See Engels, Frederic, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884).
3 Pateman, Carole (1988).
The Sexual Contract
, Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 207.
4 See for example, Tickner, Ann J. (2001). "Patriarchy".
Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy: Entries P-Z
. Taylor
& Francis. pp. 1197–1198.
5 Most models of Patriarchy only recognize the existence of two distinct and dichotomous biological sexes.
