The Creation of Patriarchy

Historical research of the subordination of women is often aided greatly by studying not only the laws that were made, but the myths of a culture. In the earliest Mesopotamian mythology, both gods and goddesses were involved in a sort of democratic assembly in which each had an equal say (Rohrlich 94). This divine congregation is viewed as a representation of a similar human assembly. Later, however, one male deity was selected to rule only in difficult times, when the conflict was over, as was his rule (Rohrlich 94). Eventually, under the reign of Gilgamesh in 2700 BCE, the group was composed entirely of men, and the Mesopotamian civilization had one male king who had sexual access to any women he wanted (Rohrlich 95). Once women were not part of the assembly at all, the king gained more power and became “the sole and absolute ruler of the land” (Rohrlich 96). This pattern continued until around 2000 BCE, when the king used his total power to make laws which affected the entire state and imposed laws on women that were not imposed on men. In this way, the laws and political practices of many cultures show the slow process of women losing respect in society and becoming subordinate to men.

The idea that men were the primary forces in reproduction led to the idea that God was male, which continued throughout history and was a major factor in the subordination of women. In early myths of all cultures, it was goddesses, not gods, who created the earth and humankind. Later, male gods began to appear, “but the female deities were still more popular and more numerous” (Rohrlich 86). Eventually, though, a single male god began to emerge in many cultures as the most powerful, reflecting each society’s opinion of the power of goddesses: “The observable pattern is: first, the demotion of the Mother-Goddess figure and the ascendance and later dominance of her male consort/son […] Wherever such changes occur, the power of creation and of fertility is transferred from the Goddess to the God” (Lerner 145). This was probably the result of the changing ideas of conception, as men began to take credit for procreation.

The goddesses of fertility and creation were replaced by male gods who first aided in these processes, then completely took them over. The “seed” of the gods was soon able to create without need of a goddess at all: some myths involve a male god masturbating to create mankind. It is through this demotion of female deities that the subordination of women was solidified, because making the most powerful god a male made men more divine, closer to perfection, and more worthy of the right to rule. Accepted beliefs that God was male also led to the decline in value of priestesses in society, another way in which women were seen as inferior, unable to even serve the gods.

There is not one specific event that triggered the subordination of women. It happened gradually over time, imperceptible until it was too late to change. Despite the efforts made by feminists and other people who strive for equality, women today are still fighting the societal preconceptions that men are more worthy and deserving of better opportunities. Women will not have true equality until it is a common fact that men have not always been superior. The creation of patriarchal societies was affected by the creation of agriculture, the beginning of private property and individual ownership, the early (false) understanding of men’s roles in reproduction, and the demotion of female goddesses. In a sense, the subordination of women can be diagnosed through many different aspects of society: economy, biology, psychology, and religion. These factors are not necessarily causal or chronological, but each is related and each led to the eventual state of society in which women were considered inferior.