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PORTSIDE CULTURE

THE PATRIARCHS: HOW MEN CAME TO RULE  
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Nicoleta Ciubotariu
May 23, 2024
LSE Review of Books
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_ This book "explores the origins of patriarchy, debunking biological
determinism and highlighting the role of nation building, social
norms, and violence in embedding gender inequality into societies." _

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The Patriarchs
The Origins of Inequality
Angela Saini
Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807014547

In _The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule_, Angela Saini delves into a
question that resonates deeply with readers interested in gender
studies, history, and social structures – how did patriarchy come to
be? Understanding its origins is crucial for those who seek to
challenge and dismantle it. Saini argues that the balance of power
towards men has destabilised and that in order to maintain it, men
find ways to reassert and reconstruct it as societies develop. This
book provides a comprehensive exploration of history, spanning
millennia and many societies (a timeline and a map can be found on
pages x-xiii) to uncover the roots of patriarchal systems (or multiple
patriarchies, as it is highlighted in the book) and their enduring
influence in our present times.

Understanding [patriarchy’s] origins is crucial for those who seek
to challenge and dismantle it.

Saini is an award-winning journalist and writer with a penchant for
digging through history to understand how systems of oppression came
to be. She brings her extensive history research to bear in _The
Patriarchs_. Her previous works, including _Superior: The Return of
Race Science_ and _Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong_, demonstrate
her expertise in dissecting the origins of societal biases and
prejudices.

_The Patriarchs_ sheds light on misconceptions and challenges previous
theories, such as Steven Goldberg’s argument
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that patriarchy is inevitable because it is rooted in biology. Saini
adeptly challenges the idea that women’s oppression started to
appear in the agricultural societies of the past due to natural
differences between men and women, which relegated one group to
submission and one to domination. She uses the discoveries at the
Neolithic and Chalcolithic southern Anatolia, Catalhoyuk
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revolution began in 10,000 BCE, the communities in Catalhoyuk were
still very much gender-blind in 7400 BCE.

Looking at Mesopotamia in 2100 BCE, Saini shows as the state developed
over hundreds of years, women’s lives and rights became more and
more constricted by gender codes and laws.

Instead, she argues, it was the emergence of states and empires that
demanded their citizens to defend and fight for their precarious
inception and growth. Looking at Mesopotamia in 2100 BCE, Saini shows
as the state developed over hundreds of years, women’s lives and
rights became more and more constricted by gender codes and laws.
While initially being able to own property and work, in time, wives
and daughters had to be designed as legal men to bypass laws and be
able to inherit. Nation- and empire-building also required the
production of citizens, which led states to want to control births
and, thus, women. As Saini states, “…we can see [women’s
oppression] in the historical record around the same time the earliest
states and empires began to grow, as they tried to expand their
populations and maintain armies to defend themselves. The elites […]
needed young women to have as many children as possible, and for the
young men they raised to be willing warriors” (7). Therefore, gender
inequality has at its roots narratives of power and attempts to gain
control over other people rather than stemming from inescapable
biology.

Gender inequality has at its roots narratives of power and attempts to
gain control over other people rather than stemming from inescapable
biology.

Yet, this does not explain how gender inequality and patriarchal
systems persisted through the centuries. Saini argues that it happened
slowly, “through constant considered effort, sometimes using
violence or the threat of it, but more often by layer upon layer of
social norms, laws, and edicts” (131). It took sustained labour to
convince people of women’s inferiority, and gender norms had to be
introduced and policed through honour, shame and loyalty. Chapter
Five, aptly named “Restriction”, illustrates some of the ways in
which women’s participation, choices and actions were restricted and
controlled through time and how these narratives propagated.

One striking example of this is the exploration of gender expectations
of sexual purity and chastity imposed on girls from Ancient Greece
onwards, whose families pressured them to marry very young (around 13
or 14 years old). They would often be married off to men ten or
fifteen years older. This fed the stereotypes still present in modern
times that men are rational and logical. Women were seen as emotional
and foolish instead of acknowledging a huge age and life experience
gap. These beliefs continue to affect women’s participation in
society and their choices; their persistence is highlighted by recent
statistics around leadership roles
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pay gaps
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and their participation in STEM
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and sport
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[Girls] would often be married off to men ten or fifteen years older.
This fed the stereotypes still present in modern times that men are
rational and logical.

In the next chapter, “Alienation”, the author unpicks some of the
darkest issues that have resulted from and been consolidated through
patriarchies. Domestic abuse (perpetrated not only by the partner but
also by others in the family) and rape, forced marriage, bride
kidnapping, captive taking, prostitution, sexual bondage/slavery,
unpaid and unrecognised domestic labour and female genital mutilation
are among the themes analysed in this chapter. Saini shows that
violence against women is both a cause and a consequence
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of patriarchy, of the imbalance of power between genders.

Saini argues these happen because of the patrilineal and patrilocality
aspects of patriarchy, which require young women to give up their
family home and move in with their in-laws upon marriage. This often
leaves the woman destitute, vulnerable, and dependent on the goodwill
of others who are in control of her fate. Saini discusses that in some
traditions, the father gifts the groom a whip to illustrate the change
of ownership. Further, the expression “rule of thumb
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acceptable width of the instrument men could use to beat their wives.

[In] matrilineal, matrilocal societies, where men move in with the
women’s families, where often women are more supported and have
access to more resources, which can be seen in physical attributes,
eg, they are taller.

To further prove the point, she contrasts this to matrilineal,
matrilocal societies, where men move in with the women’s families,
where often women are more supported and have access to more
resources, which can be seen in physical attributes, eg, they are
taller. These arguments are supported by UN statistics
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emphasise that heterosexual relationships wherein men believe they
hold a dominant position over women and practice behaviours intended
to control women’s bodies, autonomy and contact with others are
strongly correlated with a higher risk of intimate partner violence.

Another interesting idea explored in this chapter is the complicity of
women in maintaining patriarchy. The illustrations that bring this
point to life range from the mistress of the house choosing the
least-desirable food (eating the fat of the pate or the burnt toast),
to mothers-in-law orchestrating the murder of their daughters-in-law
to maintain the family’s honour, to Boko-Haram kidnapped girls who
decided to stay as kidnappers’ wives as they had power over other
slaves, which they would otherwise lose. This highlights the
intersectionality of age (women becoming more powerful with age) and
status (bearing sons, becoming mothers-in-law) to show the different
power dynamics women are involved in and sometimes seek.

Saini connects this to an earlier discussion relating to the reductive
idea that goddess-worshipping societies were peaceful and conquered by
a violent, war-thirsty minority. She artfully weaves together threads
of arguments that help to dispel myths such as the notion that women
cannot be power-hungry or that they accepted submission because of
nature. Women, like other people, are not a homogenous group but
individuals with their own objectives, ambitions and beliefs that make
them different from one another.

Saini takes the reader on a journey through history to uncover [_…]_
multiple patriarchies that have had to be constructed, reconstructed
and reinforced through laws, but more importantly, through traditions,
myths and stereotypes

Throughout the course of the book, Saini takes the reader on a journey
through history to uncover the origins of patriarchy. Rather than
going straight to the destination, this journey uncovers multiple
patriarchies that have had to be constructed, reconstructed and
reinforced through laws, but more importantly, through traditions,
myths and stereotypes. Women’s submission is neither natural nor
genetically prone. Instead, oppression is consolidated through gender
norms, isolation and violence. This book is an excellent read for
feminists, sociologists, historians, and students of, or readers
interested in, politics, social sciences, gender studies, history, and
social structures.

_Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position
of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics
and Political Science._

Nicoleta Ciubotariu is a PhD student at the University of the West of
Scotland. Her research explores the provision and experience of
physical activity for survivors of gender-based violence.

* gender inequality
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* patriarchy
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* Ancient History
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* male domination
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