For many people who live in the modern world, the oppression of women is something that they would like to think of as something that is a thing of the past. Most members of the public would prefer to believe that being female doesn't necessarily mean that someone can expect to receive fewer opportunities in life or that they will be treated as something less than what a man is believed to be. A society that is ruled by men is one that is considered to be patriarchal, but a large number of individuals believe that modern western cultures and countries have moved beyond that; however, the thought that patriarchy is a thing of the past is a concept that others can make claims against, and many examples of bias in favor of men still exists. When it comes to patriarchy, there are many of those who would like to think that it doesn't exist anymore, but the reality of the situation in most modern western countries as well as non-western countries is that patriarchy is a reality integrated into the way that many societies are structured that still exists in many of the areas of life and institutions that both men and women come into contact with on a regular basis.
[...] (1981) Public Man, Private Women: women in social and political thought. Oxford: Martin Robertson. Evans, J. (1995) Feminist Theory Today. London: Sage. Gottfried, H. (1998) 'Beyond Patriarchy? Theorizing Gender and Class', Sociology 451-468. Hartmann, H. (1979) The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: towards a more progressive union of Capital and Class 1-34. Landes, J. B. (1998) Feminism, the Public and the Private. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [...]
[...] The question of who does the housework, or who interrupts whom in conversation, is seen as part of the system of male domination.' Although there are people who believe otherwise, patriarchy isn't just some abstract idea that a few women from the nineteen seventies who were sick of doing housework thought up in order to start a feminist movement to give themselves something to do and help them to feel better about themselves. Laws, policies, and procedures that favor men and allow men to be the dominant figures in society are customs that can be a part of economic systems, institutes of higher learning, and sometimes even social centers intended to help less fortunate men and women who happen to be in need of assistance. [...]
[...] What is something of a disappointment for modern feminists who believe that getting past patriarchy should be a goal to work towards is that what usually happens in conventional relationships is that the men are the ones who come first. A part of what most would regard as being regular relationships that strongly suggests that patriarchy isn't a idea that modern society has gotten past is women to claim that their husband or boyfriends is a good person just because he hasn't hit her, abused her in any possible way, or forced himself on her or her kids in one way or another. [...]
[...] Mies, M. (1986) Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International division of Labour. London: Zed Books. Pateman, C. (1983) 'Feminist critiques of the public/private dichotomy', in S. Benn and G. Gaus (eds) Public and Private in Social Life. London: Croom Helm, 281-303. Pollert, A. [...]
[...] Patriarchy is not an idea that only comes from one singular set of clear-cut rules and laws printed in black and white; patriarchy comes from the way people think. With regards to laws that are already written as well as schools, universities, and places of business, as well as other such locations with similar policies, could all be enforced, run, and managed in a more egalitarian way; however, something that many people who run business, are in charge of schools, and enforce the law do is assume that someone is superior to someone else because of their gender, and that is something that stifles endeavors to promote equality between the sexes because it is a bias that can often be subtle. [...]
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