Patriarchy, Geography And

Patriarchy refers to a set of hierarchical power relations between men and women in which men are able to dominate women and masculinity is privileged over femininity. Such gender domination takes place at all levels of social interactions. While intersecting factors such as race, class, sexuality, and ethnicity may place men and women at different levels of the power hierarchy, patriarchy unites men in their domination over women across place and time. Patriarchy is not a random hierarchical system but rather a system in which women are particularly oppressed and their roles devalued or undervalued. Patriarchy is therefore systemic and has led to the material and ideological oppression of women and the marginalization of femininity while simultaneously benefitting men and attributes considered masculine. As a ...