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Scott Walker

Professor Mularski

Hist 4

12 December 2011

Patriarchal Positioning

Many civilizations in the past and present have had patriarchal based society. A patriar-

chal society is a society that believes and practices the inequality of man and woman in favor of

the male. These societies were far more common in the past, some more than others in the degree

to which they practiced it. The Aztecs, Chinese, and French all were patriarchal, but each of

them practiced it at different degrees. These three civilizations preferred to put men ahead of

women in the areas of education, social status, as well as career opportunities. The unfortunate

misplacement of women in society resulted in years of inferiority for females, and in some cir-

cumstances, still has not yet been resolved.

The Aztecs in the 16th century were one of the least patriarchal societies of the time. The

Aztecs respected their women, and only discriminated in the areas of rule, order, and household

dominance. Within Aztec civilization, there were far more male leaders than females, showing

the male preference over female. Aztecs put the responsibility of keeping the order in the hands

of the males in their society, although they did not find women any less able to do these tasks.

The roles of men and women in Aztec society are outlined clearly by the words of Bernardino de

Sahagun, a Spanish missionary whose sole purpose in the Americas was to gather information

for an encyclopedia of Aztec culture. In his work he stated the traits that were both desirable and

undesirable for both men and women. While specifying women, he wrote, “...she is an energetic

worker-diligent, watchful, solicitous, full of anxiety. She teaches people, she is apprehensive for

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their welfare, she is careful, thrifty- constantly at work”(Aztec women and men, 408) these are

traits that are equally as desirable in men, in which he puts “...One’s father is diligent, solicitous,

compassionate, sympathetic... He teaches others, he advises, he admonishes one.”(Aztec women

and men, 408). This document describes the culture of the Aztecs from a Spanish viewpoint and

the writer admires how closely men and women are. The few differences between men and

women most likely stems from the lack of technology, which causes people to have to do more

manual labor, which results in the usage of women for labor tasks, which puts them on an equal

playing field as men. Aztec civilization held an almost equal society for men and women, how-

ever, the Chinese were quite the opposite.

The Chinese, back in the Zhao era were viewed as far below men. Even though there

were female leaders who ruled over China, even they believed that women were inferior to men.

The Zhao time period was a time where Confucianism dominated the land. The inequality of the

two genders in ancient China is defined clearly in Confucian doctrine, which clearly regards

women as incapable of literary education. With these Confucian values in the forefront of Chi-

nese society, these values were infused into Chinese culture as well. The leader Ban Zhao, who

also was a woman, wrote of the duties and nature of women. “... Being careless, and by nature

stupid, I taught and trained my children without system..Let a woman be correct in manner and

upright in character in order to serve her husband. Let her live in purity and quietness of spirit...

Womanly words need be either clever in debate nor keen in conversation.”(Lessons for Women,

151-153) This leader, who has risen up above the restraints of her culture, does not bear any self-

esteem or regard for achievement. The words that she writes for her people condone the rising up

for women. This primary document is crippling to women in Chinese society and does little more

than to reinforce the already discriminatory behaviors that had been passed down from genera-

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tion to generation. This constant battering of women is what has kept women below men in this

society, even to present day.

French society hundreds of years ago was a patriarchal society, plagued with the idea of

male superiority. There was a female writer born in Venice by the name of Christine de Pizan,

who wrote of the misguided opinions of men in her book The City of Ladies. Within her book

she takes a stand against the stereotype of female lack of intelligence. “However, if there are

those who maintain that women aren’t intelligent enough to learn the law, I would contradict

them by citing numerous examples of women of both the past and the present who were great

philosophers and who excelled in many disciplines which are far more difficult than simply

learning the laws and the statutes of men...”(The City of Ladies, no page) Pizan wrote many

book and poems, mostly about the equality of men and women, which if there was no oppression

or discrimination in France, there would not have been a need for such writing to be made. The

French had many believers that women were unintelligent, which was mostly due to cultural

norms, which held women to performing “womanly tasks” and putting men responsible for at-

taining an education. This educational “right” put men at an advantage to women, and this lack

of education is what caused women to seem less intelligent. However, this lack of education was

the cause of this stereotype, not nature.

Society in the modern world is not like it was centuries ago, however, the way that men

treat women has been left unchanged in certain parts of the world. The way changes occur

throughout different countries is a complex and inexact art. Generations of values and morals

passed down from generation to generation have formed habits that often can be difficult to

break. These chains that have locked down the culture of many places and finding the key to un-

locking the patriarchal society can take years to find. The prison of inequality of man and woman

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can be unmade, it just takes time and effort. Some places are prone to patriarchy, while others

have long since let it go. These differences in culture are diverse, and perhaps someday patriar-

chal society will cease to exist.