The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule with Angela Saini | Episode 1.3

May 24 2023 • 37 mins

Listen to author and science journalist, Angela Saini, discuss the myth of “The Patriarchy.” Rather than there being only one, there are and always have been many patriarchies. Her research illustrates how some societies used to be more egalitarian than they are today but have been influenced by the strict gender roles of more recent generations. By understanding the below, we may better understand how our perspective on gender influences sexist biases being codified in tech.In this episode, we discuss:

How “we’re constrained by our own experiences and beliefs” (The Patriarchs, 7)
How “subservience does not, on the whole, come naturally to people,” and how religion has been used to enforce women’s subservience in society (The Patriarchs, 27, 66)
Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest settlements in ancient civilization, and their more egalitarian gender roles
Marija Gimbutas’ theory that patriarchy in Old Europe dates back to around 3000 - 6000 years ago and comes from the Russian steppes
How Greek history saw its goddesses gradually pushed into the background, while Greek gods came to the frontlines and started displaying more violent tendencies
How the concept of the American woman was reimagined in the 1950s, to adhere to a more specific housewife trope that had been absent in the previous decades
How the Native American woman had more rights than American women, and how American civilization took those rights away
How Iran views transgender people and subsidizes sexual reassignment operations
Ways that women maintain sexist patriarchal forces
What it means to “resign ourselves to the systems and institutions we have, even when we know they’re not working,” and the blurry “boundary between choice and coercion” (The Patriarchs, 202)
How Kyrgyzstan still faces high rates of bride kidnappings - both real and traditional
Women’s timeless refusal to give into patriarchal oppression

Unfortunately, not enough time could be allotted to cover everything, so do check out Angela Saini’s new book, The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule.Books referenced: