Where Did Patriarchy Come From?

It’s broadly believed that a new and more class-stratified, more violent social system arose with the advent of agriculture. Although that certainly played a part, it’s a bit reductive to say that it was the sole cause of the rise of patriarchy, as characterized by male domination and inequality more generally. Other things helped to change the fundamental social dynamics, including natural disasters as well as a series of invasions into Europe by the Kurgans, a Proto-Indo-European culture that originated in the area of the Caucasus and the Black Sea as well as similar invasions of what we now call Palestine by the ancient Hebrews. I have perhaps leaned too heavily in the past on the advent of agriculture in my discussions of the rise of patriarchy because it’s a clearer delineation that is simpler to explain, but I think the time has arrived to dig a bit deeper into the real roots of this social system — one that is about so much more than just a power differential between men and women. Agriculture existed for nearly 5k years before patriarchy truly took hold, and although things like greater personal property and a need to administer and guard stores of grain certainly contributed to new male-led dominance hierarchies, leaving the Kurgans and the Hebrews out of the equation is a disservice to anyone who truly wants to understand “How did we get here?” <a href="https://medium.com/inside-of-elle-beau/where-did-patriarchy-come-from-76d3eeb93b4b">Read More</a>