Did Chimpanzees Contribute To Set Up The Patriarchal Society?
Today women have gained some basic human rights and a little bit of equality in some phases, but you can’t disagree that we still have a long way to go yet! We all are familiar with and used to the kind of life women have been living for centuries. However, there are not a single but yet numerous factors involved in making human society the way it is for both women and men. Let’s dig into one of such factors with which not many of us are familiar!
I’m sure most of us are aware that a woman leaving her house and moving to her husband’s house after marriage or taking after his name is an integral part of patriarchy. I should rather say it is one of the strongest ways of maintaining patriarchy in society. Although it is not a law to follow this tradition, well, people don’t tend to see out of it. The tradition is accepted and followed wholeheartedly, religiously, culturally, and naturally. For the men of the houses, they can’t help it and abandon it as they are getting honoured through it. I know it is a choice, however, it is certainly not a choice of sensibility when the privileged, educated, and empowered women choose to accept it.
Most importantly, it is not impossible that to execute the idea of establishing male dominance over females in humans must have come from our ancestors Chimpanzees. They have though split from our family tree but have been evolving like us as well. However, the social structure they live by can indicate the conditions in which male dominance thrives. For starters, chimpanzees are manifestly patriarchal. Male chimpanzees are ferocious towards females. Snatching their food, and forcibly having intercourse with them while they are ovulating to kill them merely for the sake of spending away some time from the group are a few examples.
What is more intriguing is the fact that male chimpanzees spend their lives in the groups they were born into. While the females leave when they step into adulthood. Since the male chimpanzees live in groups, they are closely related to each other and hence have more advantages over females. Isn’t it similar to human society? Wherever women after marriage move to their husband’s families, men there naturally have more power and privilege.
Along with the evolution, a time came when both women and men were equal. Women were gatherers and men were hunters. According to research, women worked as hard as men. I’m referring to the hunter-gatherer tribes where women and men had equal influence in the groups they used to live in. Besides, any person of the married couple could move in with their in-laws or live independently away from their families.
However, another period came which changed the whole chapter some 12,000 years ago. It was when people started settling down with the advent of agriculture and homesteading. Moreover, the period required more physical strength to defend the resources and the inclination bent towards men consequently. All the males of the families such as fathers, sons, grandsons, uncles etc. started living close to each other.
Above all, the properties started to pass down to the male line by neglecting the females. Well, not only the property, but the whole set-up rendered more power and influence to men and helped them to establish patriarchy. Today, though many cultures don’t follow the traditional patriarchal set-up, male dominance over females can’t be ignored either. Somehow or anyhow it exists in every corner of the world. And, it will still take a great count of centuries to meet up with equality.
The Topic, history, facts, and the origin of patriarchy which led women to struggle to survive throughout the centuries are never-ending. Hence, I’d suggest the readers do some more research on it and suit themselves with more findings. A little bit more knowledge doesn’t harm anyone. Does it?
I’m A Sex Worker Writing My Autobiography To Speak Against Patriarchy
Author: Simran K Parmar
A post graduate in English Literature, secular humanist, critical thinker, an outspoken atheist, follower of equality and a lover of philosophy. craftedfashion94@gmail.com
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