Patriarchy (ideology)

Patriarchy, as understood in feminism, is the ideal that gender relations be structured on a principle of male responsibility and authority, corresponding to female protection and submission — sometimes called complementarianism. This ideology is sharply criticised in feminism as immoral, in fact feminism is often defined specifically as opposition to this view, in favour of mutuality, or equality, between the sexes — sometimes called egalitarianism. However, many modern writers, especially with religious or traditional values, maintain that patriarchy remains an objective, ethical ideal, and that feminist criticisms are flawed, counter to the best interests of both women and men.

Historical documentation

Documents containing legislation asserting equal value but different treatment of men and women have survived from within a millennium of the invention of writing. From the Code of Hammurabi, we have:

15. If any one take a male or female slave of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death.

See also

• Betty Friedan
• John Piper
• John Stuart Mill
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Traditional authority
• Wayne Grudem

References

External links

• Christians for Biblical Equity (official site — egalitarian Christians)
• Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (official site — complementarian Christians)

Literature

• Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood Crossway, 1991.