Patriarchy and Women’s Subordination: A theoretical analysis

By : Abeda Sultana,Phd

The author, Abeda Sultana, had divided the paper into four sections. In the first section
she defines the key concepts of “patriarchy” and how the terminology originated. The
second section deals with women’s subordination and factors which benefit men in a
patriarchy. The third section examines the patriarchal structure of Bangladesh and the
impacts/restrictions on females that this system poses to make them subordinates and
finally she provides some suggestions to raise womens’ position in her country,
Bangladesh.

Patriarchy is an institutionalised system of social structure of power, dominance,

hierarchy, and competition used by men to dominate, oppress and exploit women.
Different feminists have different take on how patriarchy came into existence but despite
all these differences the common point in all of them is that men use their gender and
power to make women their subordinate and all of this is because of the support they
get form the patriarchal society. Society has created social norms- what is the
appropriate behaviour for females and males and this segregation of roles and
attributes are taught to children from childhood so that everyone can fit their respective
roles and it becomes easier for males to dominate others.

Another important aspect that the author highlights is the use of the word
“subordination” instead of “oppression”. Subordination means “the act of giving
someone or something less importance or power”(Cambridge dictionary).The term
‘women’s subordination’ refers to the inferior position of women, their lack of access to
resources and decision making etc. and to the patriarchal domination that women are
subjected to in most societies. As Lenard Gerder mentioned in her book, The Creation
of Patriarchy , using the word subordination had an advantage over the word
oppression as it “does not have the connotation of evil intent on the part of the
dominant; it allows for the possibility of collusion between him and the subordinate. It
includes the possibility of voluntary acceptance of subordinate status in exchange of
protection and privilege, a condition which characterizes so much of the historical
experience of women.”

The social structure of Bangladesh (much like India’s) has a “patrilineal descent” i.e. a
girl leaves her home after marriage and stays with in-laws. This makes the females
dependent upon the males for protection and shelter and gives more power to the
males in their respective households contributing to their subordination. Some examples
of womens’ subordination in Bangladesh as mentioned by author are -
 ● Preference of boy over a girl child
● Household work is to be done by females and it is unrecognized labour
● Lack of freedom and mobility for girls
● Restriction of access to better health, education and work opportunities, etc.

The Bangladesh's government has passed legislation for equality between men and
women in all spheres of life - education, health, work opportunities and social freedom
but due these patriarchal thoughts/ideas , women remain powerless and subordinate to
male dominance and keep on facing oppression.

A similar situation is in India, where the females are dominated by males, especially in
the economically weaker section of the society where due to lack of education,
healthcare, work opportunities, mobility and financial conditions, the women are at a
greater disadvantage.

The author very rightly concludes that in order for women’s position to be elevated in
society, removing these patriarchal ideas is very important as it is this ideology which
divides us into feminine and masculine and differentiates in the roles and
responsibilities of men and women. Masculine and feminine qualities are not associated
with sex of an individual and thus work segregation on this basis should not be done. A
man should imbibe “gentleness” in their nature and share the household and parenting
responsibilities. Women should imbibe qualities like “bravery”, “fearlessness”
,”rationality” etc so that they can be independent and equal in power to males.

For the purpose of our study, we should also identify the patriarchal structure in India,
how it came into existence and how it benefits males to dominate over women because
without understanding this we cannot analyse why and how women face exploitation.

By:varuni jindal