Gerda Lerner argued that slavery played a crucial role in the development of patriarchy. Men first enslaved conquered women and children, and became good at controlling them through forced reproduction and violence. Lerner proposes that enslaved women and children might have been the very first private property.
A powerful division was created among women through enslaving some and elevating the status of others. Women married to powerful men saw an unwelcome future in their female slaves, particularly if their societies were conquered. This was a strong motivation to get behind militarism and entrenching male power.
Once they learned to enslave women, victorious men experimented with enslaving conquered men, at first blinding or crippling them in order to prevent insurrection. Eventually, they learned more sophisticated techniques to control all slaves (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, n.d.). The progress of learning to enslave people progressed from maiming to violence to psychological, cultural, economic and legal techniques such as mass incarceration.
Parallel to slavery is the development of capitalism, in which propertyless workers are not officially enslaved but suffer significantly if they refuse to work. The development of hierarchies of wages provides strong motivation to many people to comply and participate in the system, and erodes solidarity among workers that could overthrow the inequalities inherent in the capitalist model.
Lerner, G. (1987). The creation of patriarchy. Oxford University Press.[Kindle edition]
Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. (n.d.). Slave control. George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/slave-control
Unlearning Patriarchy 