Patriarchy: a Social, not Sexual Issue

I wish to disagree with the article by Bryan Law (Sexual Oppression?, NvT
#46).  He defines patriarchy as a term to "describe the system that gives
rise to routine violence by men against women and children".  From there
Bryan argues that the use of the word patriarchy is therefore simply another
form of oppression.

My argument is that describing patriarchy as males oppressing females is too
simple.  I define patriarchy as a feature of society that inflicts violence
against all life on earth.  The features that define this form of violence as
patriarchal are that it puts value on traditional male attributes, such as
competitiveness, physical strength, use of power over others to deal with
problems and stoicism.  Organisations that are patriarchal will foster those
qualities in their members.  So women in these organisations will tend to
suffer.  But it is not the case that men are oppressing women.  It is the
patriarchal nature of the organisation that is the problem.  The members of
that organisation who do not challenge that patriarchy are the oppressors,
regardless of their gender. 

I argue that giving this feature of society a name is a first step to
recognising that it is present.  Through that recognition we can learn to
deal with it and begin the process of healing the damage it has caused. 

I wish to present my argument in the form of a fictional story.  It is a
story about a man working in a large organization.  One day, this man finds
himself presented with an official grievance about his conduct, alleging
physical and psychological harassment against his work colleagues who were
mostly women.  He is absolutely shocked by this allegation, being totally
unaware that his colleagues were finding his behaviour unacceptable.  His
response to the subsequent inquiry is to blame his work colleagues, arguing
that the allegations were petty in nature, totally unsubstantiated by facts. 
He claims that he is being used as a scapegoat for their poor work
performance and inability to resolve inter-personal problems.  He finds
himself confronted with the possibility of being removed from the work place
and having his future career ruined by these allegations. 

This story is also about a woman working in this organisation. She has been
unhappy about her male work colleague for a long time, regularly consulting
with her manager about his behaviour.  She is frustrated that nothing ever
seems to get done about it.  Eventually things feel so bad that she meets
with other work colleagues and lodges a formal complaint.  She is shocked to
find in the formal inquiry that ensues, that she is being interrogated about
her work performance and her inability to resolve inter-personal problems. 
She is confronted with the possibility that the man will return to the work
place as if nothing has happened and she will be worse off than ever before.

Patriarchy manifests itself right through this organisation.  It manifests
itself in the way the organisation deals with problems.  Why can't this
organisation deal with problems while they are small and manageable?  It
manifests itself in this organisation through the reliance of documentation
to support claims of harassment.  How can one document pain?  It manifests
itself in the distress that all of the participants in this process
experience.  Why was the inquiry conducted in a manner that caused so much
distress?  It manifests itself in the inability of the organisation to learn
from this experience.  Why do these patterns of distress keep on recurring
again and again?

The message I wish to convey in this story is that patriarchy is not a gender
issue.  Everyone in that organisation suffers from the patriarchy that
permeates every aspect of its operation.  It is a social issue.  The first
step in dealing with it is to give it a name so that we can all recognise it
and learn to deal with it.

To say to management of the organisation that "the way this organisation
deals with interpersonal problems is patriarchal" does not blame men for the
failings of the organisation.  It is a way of highlighting aspects of the
functioning of the organisation that have certain recognisable features that
fall within the category of patriarchy.  It helps people recognise patterns
of behaviour in themselves that they never noticed before.  It provides ways
of learning more appropriate ways of behaviour. 
Daniel Boase-Jelinek