Patriarchy And Oppression

Patriarchy is the system where minorities including women are oppressed by what are seen as powerful men, whether in the home, the work place or society in general. To end patriarchy society must own up to it and determine what is causing the oppression of minorities and to understand that everyone plays a part in patriarchy. The oppressed normally do not object the patriarchal society because they see that this is how things have always been and it has worked in the past. When people begin to stand up against the patriarchal structure they are seen to be upsetting the balance of society. Only when someone strong protest the oppression do other parts of society realize that there is a problem and changes need to occur to make the system
of society work for everyone.
Men are seen as dominant figures in society and usually express dominance in everything that they do, such as head of the household, earning more money than their spouse, disciplining their children to assert dominance and hold powerful positions in the work place.
Johnson states that when a women finds her way into managing positions, people tend to be skeptical and wonder how she’ll measure up, instead of a man holding the same position (2005). Women may feel that they need to assert more dominance in the position of management, not against the men in the office but against the job itself, she may feel that she has to prove herself in the authoritative role of the person in command as well as keep her nurturing role as a woman, because she will not want to lose her femininity. It is harder for women to take on a position that is normally held by men, not by her own reluctance but that of the company, for fear she will not be strong enough to lead the company in the direction of success. The commanders in the military are mainly men because men are seen as the ones who can lead other men into combat and complete the task of war like defending the weak and killing the dominant enemies. Women have fought long and hard to be able to stand beside the men in war and to be able to do the same jobs and to be in the role of commanders to command on the battle field just have men have done for centuries, women have won these rights and feel empowered as women to have broken the
barrier between men and women in the military. Only time will tell if these women will be able to complete the task as men have in the past.
Traditionalist feel that women should be subservient because since the beginning of time women have been dominated by men, and it should not be questioned (Lerner, 1986).
Men have always been the head of house-holds and have always been the bread winners; therefore these roles should continue and women should know their place, these ideals can be seen as that of functionalist. The roles of men and women have been known since the beginning of time, women take care of men at home and men bring home the food and necessities that are needed at home. In World War II when the United States entered the war and most of the men went off to defend the country, life had to go continue on the home-front, meaning women took on the jobs that men left behind such as building airplanes, making ammunition, construction and any other job that kept the country operating while at war. Women felt liberated and accomplished in being able to complete the jobs that were normally held by men and they knew that they did them as well as the men who had been doing them before the
war.
Conflict came when the second world war ended and the men came back and wanted their wives back in the kitchen and out of the jobs that they had taken from the men; however, the women, knowing that they had completed the jobs as well as men, wanted to stay in the workforce because of the liberation that came along with feeling equal. The companies that had employed these women during the war years felt a loyalty to the men coming back and would find ways to push the women out of the job and hopefully back into the home, to allow the men to come back and get back in the work force. It was not until the mid-1960’s that women felt that they had a voice in what happened to them, when the Civil Rights Act was passed by President Johnson, in this act women were afforded to be seen as equal in all aspects of life. If women felt that they were treated differently because they were women they had a right to speak up about it and without fear of retaliation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Council that was included in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided a place that women could go for guidance and it was also a place that would enforce the laws against discrimination toward women.
The media playing a role in agencies fighting for the rights of women and minorities against the patriarchal system is seen as an internationalist perspective. The media gets involved when the complaint is a high profile case, such as Anita Hill, a law professor accused Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court nominee and her former boss, of sexual harassment in 1991, she did not win the case against him, however that does not mean she was not telling the truth she still claims after all these years that she was sexually harassed and has not changed her story (Abcarian, 2014). Even in the law the patriarchal society is still prevalent and it is still hard to prove that it occurred even with hard evidence. When you have a man in a dominant status such as Clarence Thomas, who thought and proved he was above the law, it is hard for women to want to report these incidents, the only good that might come from Anita Hill accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment is that other women are going to be more cautious around him and not allow the same treatment to occur to them.
Patriarchy will continue throughout time and will never fully diminished. The way to lessen a patriarchal society is if people admit that there is one and try to even the playing field by treating employees fairly whether it be minorities or not. The traditionalist theory is women are minorities and should not want the burden of being in charge. The functionalist theory believes that we need a patriarchal society to continue as we have in the past and that nothing should change because as society sees it, the system is not broken. The conflict theorist believe that men and women have their place in society and as long as people feel mistreated and oppressed and complain about it, then all is right because it keeps the world turning between men and women. The internationalist theory will use the media and all of its sources to promote the high profile cases that it wants the public to view as most important. Until people in all walks of life take control of their own actions and treat people equally patriarchy is here to stay.