In the #MeToo struggles portrayed most evocatively in the Brett Kavanaugh Senate hearings for the Supreme Court we have seen only a minuscule dimension of the massive, devastating, gargantuan megalith that is patriarchy.
It is a system of power in which men dominate. Patriarchy permeates our society to its very core and none of us are free from its effects. For almost six millennia men have dominated, controlled, manipulated and used violence to achieve their Pyrrhic imperialist successes and entitlements, resulting most recently in a society that is saturated with white, Judeo-Christian, male values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that give primacy to anything related to men. Males are ranked first in a complex descending order that also involves wealth, then women and children. It is reflected in our politics, economics, education, law, science and religion. It is given status and reality in our music, literature, sports and art. Patriarchy crosses all gender, ethnic, racial, geographic, economic, geo-political and religious lines around the world and is the global meta-system that governs human behaviour and with which we are all struggling to name. All other ideologies live under the global umbrella of patriarchy. It is the primary driver of all behaviour in the world. It is hierarchical, bureaucratic, autocratic, discriminatory, officious, dismissive, repressive and exclusive. It is the creation of self-centered, egoistic males that believe that they were meant to rule the world and who created a variety of institutional structures to accomplish that. Religion is the most significant one.
Patriarchy is also responsible for our traditional leadership models, organizational structures, predatory capitalist economic theories and our religious beliefs with their over-accentuated, male dominated morality that is imposed on everyone. It is the ultimate expression of the male psyche. Men are proudly patriarchal. And yet it is invisible.
Patriarchy is the universal system of silent rank-ordering that is an integral part of every other subliminal ideological system beneath it. It is subsumed in every hierarchical ordering in society. It is impossible not to find the power and influence of men everywhere, from the largest geo-political confrontations to the most innocent of social courtesies and language. Males are directly responsible for the vast majority of the violence on our planet whether in business or war and yet we continue to sit back and give them a free pass. Men have controlled and continue to destroy the world in all its beauty in their staggering arrogance. And we do nothing.
Women’s issues are only one small part of a huge problem that has spread across the planet as societies flourished. In recent years Western women have begun to chip away at patriarchy raising their voices but women around the world are also demanding real and not “fake” equality as in the blatant unfairness of colonial legislation on adultery and homosexuality recently overturned by the Supreme Court in India. Women who have been leered at, cat-called, sexually harassed, exploited, abused, portrayed or trafficked into prostitution clearly want not objectification and minimalization but real and deep-structure equality with men. They want control over their lives – including abortion.
The road is long however. This is only the beginning. As Winston Churchill once said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” These are all minor achievements in a patriarchal world that is saturated with the cult of men.
This means that patriarchy must change. What is important to understand is that patriarchy is a deeply woven tapestry of male dominance that both men and women have participated in for thousands of years and is much, much larger that #MeToo or Brett Kavanaugh. It is far more difficult to solve than a few sexual misconduct cases and yet it is a start. Its ultimate change means resetting its relationship with the world and changing every aspect of our society to make it more inclusive, gender-equitable and fair.
Everywhere you look men rule. This must end. History has led us to this point. While there are signs of progress, let us not underestimate the problem. We need a simultaneous global revolution of individual change from reactive to proactive. Our apathetic, technologically self-absorbed western world would be upended and revolutionized. Apathy is our worst enemy.
Changing patriarchy is the most important thing to ensure the survival of the human species. The first step is creating awareness. Patriarchy is more important than poverty, homelessness and the economy. The time for tokenism is over.