Question

Explain the concept of Patriarchy. Examine the views of Gerda Lerner on it.

Answer 1

Patriarchy is a social system in which menhold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage.

Patriarchy is associated with a set of ideas, a patriarchal ideology that acts to explain and justify this dominance and attributes it to inherent natural differences between men and women. Sociologists tend to see patriarchy as a social product and not as an outcome of innate differences between the sexes and they focus attention on the way that gender roles in a society affect power differentials between men and women.

Historically, patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, religious, and economic organization of a range of different cultures.] Even if not explicitly defined to be by their own constitutions and laws, most contemporary societies are, in practice, patriarchal