Concept of patriarchy and the process through which it operates in society,

with special reference to India.

Patriarchy represents a social and cultural system in which all the material resources for
example land cash etc are owned and controlled by the male head of the family who also
exercises control over all productive and even reproductive labor of women in the family
patriarchy has been defined as a structure of societal edifices and implementations were
men control dominate and misuse women heart man opens it is a set of social relations
between men which have a material base and which though hierarchical establish or create
interdependence or solidarity among men that enable them to dominate women in popular
discourse often the term matriarchy is loosely used as a counter position to patriarchy the
standard anthropological definitions of patriarchy and matriarchy are based on the
formulations of Radcliffe brown brown states that a society is possibly patriarchal when
parentage is patrilineal that is the children belong to the Father or the family group of the
father marriage is very local that is the wife proceeds to the native family of the husband
birthright of possessions and accomplishment fall in the line of man and the household is
Patrick Battiston that is command over the family members is controlled by the father or
hisrelatives likewise a matriarchal society is one where parentage legacy andprogression are
in the line of female wedding is matrilocal that is moving of the husband to the household of
the wife and when right upon children is exercised by the relatives of the mother even in the
matriarchal society the dominance of the male continues in thesense that in such societies
the maternal uncle or the male relative on the mother society wield familial control according
to logic live Brown there are no empirical societies where women legitimately wield authority
over men in the family and society thus a matriarchal society is actually a myth it would
however not be missed least to argue that the normalizing of patriarchal families as the
prototypical and universal model have led to subversion of all other family systems including
the matriarchal societies public and private patriarchy one of the most important
contributions in theorizing and conceptualizing patriarchy has been made by sylvia wald me
in doing so she distinguished between public and private forms of patriarchy suggesting that
patriarchal relations outside the household are important in shaping the patriarchal relations
within it family as an institution is not based on the principles of equity power dynamics
remain ingrained in differentforms covered and overt across different layers of relationships
fashioned by kinship rules socio cultural norms and historical processes there are
differences in endowments resources positioning and placement within the domestic unit
duties and responsibilities as per age sex and position given these factors each individual
has varying ownership or access to control of spaces physical economic socio cultural and
political which further determines the levels of empowerment placement of a member in intra
household power hierarchies and bargaining capacities given this scheme of things place of
a woman in the household is sculpted by the patriarchal ideologies which decrees biased
allocation of resources in favor of men devaluing the work women do both unpaid work
undertaken at home as well paid work they undertake in the labor market patrilineal lineage
system stringent gendered social cultural norms and restrictive religious codes while in
private sphere women are subjected to individual and direct appropriation by the family
member in public space women experience collective appropriation whereby theyare
segregated in the lower levels of occupational hierarchy in the workplaces as men dominate
powerful positions making policies and exercising their control over women as more women
enter the public sphere in the pursuit of education and employment they are likely to be
subjected to patriarchal control these six important patriarchal constructions are male
controlled method of construction male controlled associations in salaried work male control
associations in the state male controlled relationships and sexuality male control
relationships in ethnic organizations and male violence as a patrilineal structure in most of
the societies in the world men dominate as decision-makers within families as well as in
various public spaces such
male domination surpasses the confines of the family and extends into the community tribe
or nation affecting the public life and workplace does the economic political and religious
organizations are embedded in patriarchal ideologies where men are the decision-makers
and at the helm of affairs while women are placed in the lower most rungs of power hierarchy
in
India for example political participation among women both as leaders and caters is dismal
Allucompared to men similarly in the labor market most of the women work in informal sector
and even in the organized they are mostly employed as low-level executors rather than as
decision-makers at the managerial levels all the major political parties are patriarchal in the
sense that pairing a handful of women are headed by men all religious organizations are also
headed by men to an extent that at some places of worship women are even divided from
entering while we observed that patriarchy operated in collusion with capitalism she goes on
to argue that the state should be seen as both patriarchal and capitalist since the state
endorses patriarchal relations through different methods like restricting faith work
accessibility to women low work participation rate among women in non home-based paid
work especially among those hailing from upper caste and upper class groups low wages
paid to women for doing the same work as men deployment of women into the labor market
in times of economic crisis followed by their withdrawal during periods of relative financial
stabilization segregation of occupation etc all these testified to the operations of public
patriarchy at work whereby women are viewed as secondary wage earners for the family
earning money and providing for the family is the man's job there has also been a clear-cut
domination of men over technological knowledge and expertise men are encouraged to study
medicine engineering astronomy mathematics and politics women on the other hand are
facilitated entry into the public world of work and politics where these spheres are rendered
as masculine social construction of femininity and masculinity the easiest way to
comprehend the notions of masculinity and feminine is to approach the two concepts from
the viewpoint of what means and females that is how they conduct themselves instead of
what they actually are in this opinion the masculine and the feminine indicate a variety of
traditionally well-defined attributes which are allocated to both males and females mingling
mediators like families schools and the media indoctrinate and confirm gender suitable
behavior in the project of identifying masculine and feminine traits of gender identities
basically the biological difference are translated into socio-cultural attributes both
masculinity and femininity are interactive ideas one exists in opposition to the other both are
built and replicatedvia individual's implementation and manners in delights masculinity does
not mainly signify male bodies but also denotes particular attributes behaviors practices etc
which can be embraced by anyone according to Cornell masculinity is not a monolithic
construct rather there are multiple masculinity is located in different social contexts a very
relevant incident in point is the demotion of gay males by heterosexual means which not only
reflects differing levels of power among these differentforms of masculinity but also a
conflation of subordinate masculinities with femininity Cornell and Mathur matealso talk
about dominating masculinity as an overriding form of masculinity which embodies
heterosexual white middle-class men in Western cultures on the other hand femininity is
associated with femaleness and not merely adhered to any specific body scholars have
contended tha there shall not be hegemonic femininity in any form as every femininities are
created as subsidiary to masculinity especially dominating masculinity however Cornell put
forth the idea of emphasized femininity as a highlighted method of femininity distinguished
by its domination by masculinity that is a vital constituent in men's authority upon women in
the gender Affairs neverthelessthese multiple layers masculinity in embodies aggression
competitiveness emotional inarticulate Ness rationality etc while femininity is seen to
embody emotions tenderness nurturing nature etc under patriarchal systems masculine
traits are exalted while the feminine traits are devalued addressing men in patriarchy is the
patriarchal system of hierarchical power relations is considered as the single most important
factor behind subordinate status of women in the society despite the popular belief that
associates patriarchy with women's subjugation and their call for liberation men as much a
women are negatively affected by patriarchy a fact which is more often dismissed than
accepted much of the theorization pertaining to patriarchy and feminism project men as the
all-powerful beings however such projections completely undermine the fact that such
patriarchal ideologies also sheep and inform masculine identities and their sense of self
hooks employs the term imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy to define
interconnecting political structures that shape the principles and the politics of nations
across the globe patriarchy is a political societal structure that declares that means I
inherently superior to everything and everyone deemed weak especially females and
endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance
through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence John Bradshaw points out the
dictionary defines patriarchy as a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father
in the clan or family in both domestic and religious functions he elucidates further that
patriarchal rules still governed most of the world's religious school systems and family
systems according to him among the most devastating patriarchal rules is that of blind
obedience the foundation upon which patriarchy stands the repression of all emotions except
fear the destruction of individual willpower and the repression of thinking whenever it
departs from the authority figures way of thinking children are socialized into patriarchal
ideologies pertaining to
masculinity and femininity from the time of their childhood this is done through all such
institutions as familycommunity religion education etc which compelled them to consider
these ideologies as normal and obvious ways of organizing social life gender roles are
learned from the parents within the family in the first place right from the beginning gender
consciousness is reinforced in the child through the process of reward and Punishment the
boys and girls are socialized to behave different girls as subservient soft-spoken patient
nurturing and emotional while boys as strong aggressive ambitious competitive strategic and
rational expressing emotions freely is a matter of shame for a boy while a highly encouraged
attribute for a girl to cut hooks to
indoctrinate boys into the rules of patriarchy we forced them to feel being to deny their
feelings these approaches were however strengthened in educational and spiritual
institutions reel narrates the oppression of patriarchal culture in holding the men captive reel
uses the same psychological patriarchy to define the patriarchal discernment collective to
women and men although my feminist thinker pointed out that a patriarchy may not
necessarily be a man but can also be a woman but most thinkers tend to lose sight of this
established fact they endure to consider means as the cause of problem for patriarchy we
need to recognize that females play a significant part in preserving and supporting
patriarchal tradition even though males acquire more recompenses from that structure there
are two perspectives from which the victims of patriarchy could be viewed one that men
oppress women and second that patriarchy and sex rules hurt both men and women both
these realities coexist as pointed as pointed out by hooks the fact that males are also
offended by stiff sex rules does not render male oppression of women any less undesirable
nor does it lessen male responsibility for supporting and perpetuating their power under
patriarchy to exploit and oppress women in a manner far more Grievous than the serious
psychological stress and emotional beam caused by male conformity to rigid sexist role
patterns thus the operation of patriarchy needs to be viewed as perverse expression of
power generic lack of Authority upon one's own action emotive powerlessness and
widespread illogicality even amounting to the extreme insanity rather than as a unidirectional
act of powerful men dominating women men internalize these sexist al realities
unconsciously as part of their formation of masculine identities and they come to equate
manliness - ferocious dominance and exploitation of women with advantage given that it is
never possible for them to understand the damage they caused to themselves and others to
quench their learned manly aggression so dearly instilled in them and nurtured by the society
patriarchal as a system has denied males access to full emotional well-being which is not the
same as feeling rewarded successful or powerful because of one's capacity to assert control
over others researchers on crimes committed against women have repeatedly pointed out
that much of the violence is actually an expression of patriarchal backlash it is an effort to
remind women that their legitimate place in the society is within the lakshmana recount any
act of transgression of this socially approved line of legitimacy ought to render the women as
lascivious loose and promiscuous and such women must be reminded of their appropriate
place in the society through violent counter events naturally the men being the perpetrators
of Highness crimes such as rape molestation acid attack etc are scornfully resented by the
society however books argues and rightfully so that the catastrophe facing male is a crisis of
patriarchal masculinity and not catastrophe of masculinity in her own words until we make
this distinction clear men will continue to fear that any critic of patriarchy represents a threat
in this context therapists Terence reel distinguishes between political patriarchy and
psychological patriarchy while the former refers a commitment towards ending sexism the
latter refers to dynamic interaction between the masculine and feminine qualities whereby
the supremacy of one half of the human traits are established at the expense of the other half
which is devalued both men and women participate in this complex pursuit of power
domination submission manipulation and collusion hook's observed that in order to put an
end to patriarchy exploitation of both men and we must challenge both the concrete political
manifestation as well as covered psychological undertones in daily life.