Such social groups are not necessarily matriarchal, rather egalitarian: men and women enjoy same rights and often perform same jobs. There are (or rather, there were) human societies where land is owned not by male hereditary succession but by matrilineal tribes (where family lineage is traced via mothers and not fathers).
This theory became very popular with feminists, especially with those on the left political spectrum, but was since proven wrong. Women of the 19th century Europe and USA would envy female chimps for their societal influence and their sexual freedom.įriedrich Engels, the 19th century co-author of the Communist Manifesto, associated private property, which arose historically from the ownership of the agricultural land, as the original time point when the oppression of women began. In any case, even the chimps are not as patriarchal as modern humans are. Starting with the primatologist Frans de Waal (whose own books are very recommendable), who laments why scientists insist that the male-dominant chimpanzees must mirror human biology, when it may just as well be the equally related bonobos whose matriarchal society could explain human origins. On the feminist side, there are also many simplistic assumptions about human biology and history, which are often incomplete, hopelessly naive and even wrong. On the patriarchs’ side, the debate is led by rabid misogynists with far-right tendencies like Jordan Petersen, but also by the less vitriolic but equally dangerous male scholars who pretend to have undeniable scientific proof that men’s dominance over women is a biological default state. The book is certainly much needed in this debate.
It is different from the previous two in the sense that where Saini previously studied biological science for racial and sexist bias, she now turned her attention to history and archaeology when trying to find out how patriarchy came to establish itself as a presumable “natural” state in ancient and modern times. Saini’s new book is very recommendable also. Her previous books, Inferior and Superior, respectively narrated how misogyny and racism became entrenched in science, and were an important and informative read. This is my review of the new book by the British science journalist Angela Saini, “ The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule“.
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