Nobody knows exactly when the subjugation of women in Western culture started because the historical record is neither clear nor reliable (especially considering that it was written by men) but many scholars have theories. Gerda Lerner wrote that, by the time that Western civilization’s foundational idea systems were created (Greek philosophy and the Hebrew mythology that found its way into the Old Testament), the imposition of patriarchy as the paradigm of Western societies was complete (Lerner, 1987, page 211).
Lerner estimated that the process began in the second millennium (around 2000 BCE) (Lerner, 1987) while archaeologist Marija Gimbutas believed male hierarchies arose around 4000 BCE. Anthropologist Ruth Mace estimates that it was the origin of agriculture, as early as 12,000 years ago in some areas, and the profound changes that agriculture required that tipped the balance of power. She argued that men in nomadic societies had few ways to control women because there was very little wealth to be protected. People went where they wanted to, with whomever they wanted, and women could simply take the younger children and leave without much in the way of negative consequences.
Lerner describes the social relations among tribal, nomadic people as “unstable, unstructured, voluntary. There is no need for kinship structures or for structured exchanges among tribes (Lerner, 1987, page 49)”. While people were learning how to preserve food (which is an early form of accumulating wealth), women were not subjugated and exploited because so much food depended on their skills as hunters, gatherers and harvesters. Lerner wrote, “In this period, when matrilineal, matrilocal systems abound, group survival demands the demographic equalization of men and women.”
Gardening requires that you stay put, and people became increasingly better at it, which resulted in excess resources which could be stored. All of a sudden there was something to protect. Keeping livestock created even greater wealth, and significant benefits of warfare This is when Ruth Mace claims that people learned to fight, and men are better at fighting than women.
Fighting, gardening, building structures and looking after livestock required a lot more coordination, and leaders emerged. Who is going to argue with a skilled fighter who wants to take charge, especially if the neighbours lie in wait to kill you and take all your stuff? (Mace, 2022).
Agriculture also requires a lot of work and a much larger labour force, so a couple of things happened: women were strongly encouraged to bear a lot of children. Also, women and small children from defeated communities were enslaved, creating even more social inequality and hierarchy. The prospect of being abducted, perpetually raped, and to spend the rest of your life working and bearing children who would be raped and enslaved, is strong motivation to bargain away your freedom to a man who will protect you, even if he regards you as his property. The accumulation of wealth and security, and increased power by association with a powerful man, provided even more motivation for many women to participate in patriarchy (Lerner, 1987).
In the process, women were thought of as possessions, as things—they became reified—while men became the reifiers because they conquered and protected. Women’s reproductive capacity is first recognized as a tribal resource, then, as ruling elites develop, it is acquired as the property of a particular kin group (Lerner, 1987, page 49).
Lerner describes how women gradually disappear from history as the concept of the private home as separate from the public sphere takes root, and inequality in gender relations are institutionalized by mechanisms such as legal marriage. The final and decisive step, according to Lerner, is the switch that changed the foundational symbolism of the culture. Where once women were recognized as equal partners in the cooperative project of survival, powerful creators of life, goddesses in control of fertility and abundance, that role was transformed in myth and culture to become male. Women became symbolically synonymous with nature (which needs to be controlled and conquered), we cannot be trusted to choose our own path because we will tempt men into evil, and our sexuality (formerly recognized as miraculous and powerful) is now vile.
The rationale for our subjugation, exploitation and oppression is complete: we are not fully human.
Know who else isn’t fully human? Anybody who has something that a patriarch wants. Patriarchy is the root not only of sexism, but all sorts of manifestations of racism. How else can they rationalize taking other people’s freedom, agency, labour, stuff and land?
Unlearning Patriarchy 