Patriarchy Meaning, Explained Neutrally

Patriarchy meaning in three senses

1. A social system. A society or set of institutions in which men, as a group, hold most positions of power and in which norms and laws tend to favour men. Most present-day uses mean this.
2. A family structure. A household, clan or tribe in which the father or eldest male is the head and makes key decisions. Anthropologists use it this way when describing kinship.
3. A church office. The rank, area or term of office of a patriarch, a title held by senior bishops in several Eastern Christian churches. In this sense "the patriarchy" can simply mean the patriarch's see.

A related but separate idea is patrilineal descent, where family name and inheritance pass through the male line. A society can be patrilineal without every other feature of patriarchy, and the two words should not be swapped.

From Greek family heads to sociology

Behind it sits Greek patriarkhes, the head or founding father of a family line, built from patria, family or lineage (related to pater, father), and arkhein, to rule. For centuries, English used patriarch mainly for two kinds of figure: the founding fathers of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and high church leaders. Patriarchy in the sense of a whole social system of male authority became widely used in the twentieth century, especially in sociology and in the women's movement from the 1960s and 1970s onward.

What people point to when they use the word

No single definition of patriarchy lists every feature, but writers who describe a society as patriarchal often mention things such as:

• Men holding most top jobs in government, business, religion or the military.
• Laws that once limited women's rights to vote, own property, divorce or inherit, many of which have changed in many countries.
• Customs that expect women to do most unpaid care work at home.
• Family names, land and titles passing mainly to sons.
• Ideas about what men and women "should" be like, which can also put pressure on men, for example to hide emotion or be the sole earner.

Historians note that the degree and form of male authority has varied a great deal between cultures, regions and eras.

Why the term is debated

Supporters of the concept say it gives a name to patterns that are hard to see one by one: no single law or person creates them, yet together they shape who gets power and opportunity. They argue it helps explain gaps in pay, leadership and safety.

Critics raise several objections. Some say the term is too broad, lumping very different societies together. Some argue that many modern differences between men and women come from individual choices, economics or biology rather than a system. Others feel the word can sound like an accusation against all men, or that it overlooks hardships men face, such as higher rates of workplace deaths. There are also scholars who accept the idea for history but question how far it applies to present-day countries with equal-rights laws.

So in a discussion, be concrete: a specific law, custom or statistic is easier to discuss than the word alone. For a related contested idea, see feminism; for prejudice against women specifically, see misogyny.

Patriarchy vs matriarchy and related words

Using patriarchy and patriarchal in sentences

• The history lecture compared how patriarchy shaped inheritance laws in different empires.
• Her grandfather was the patriarch of a large joint family, and every big decision went through him.
• Some readers see the novel as a critique of patriarchal village life; others read it as a love story.
• The patriarchy of the ancient city was one of the oldest in the Eastern church.

More words from law and public life are gathered under law, politics and society, including privilege and hegemony.