Patriarchy: The Last Universal 1

Abstract

UNIVERSAL patriarchy, asserting that males are always dominant, is firmly established as part of our conventional and scientific wisdom. Close examination of this contention shows it, however, to be wanting on both conceptual and methodological grounds. Further suspicion as to its truth claim derives from an inspection of a dubious case, that the Dahomey of Africa, in whose society women equally occupied positions of authority with men in all major institutional sectors of society. Coupled with these conceptual, methodological, and empirical difficulties, the evolutionary scenario—man as hunter—commonly used to support the notion of universal patriarchy is found to be more of a political convenience than an adequate explanation of dominance patterns. Taken together, these considerations strongly indicate the implausibility of sustaining universal male dominance as a scientific generalization. Some of the implications for family studies of its continued acceptance are noted.