First off, patriarchy is a dominance hierarchy based social system. It advantages men in many ways, but primarily advantages "patriarchs" - social elites with the money and power to force others to do their bidding. However, a mere 50 years ago, women in America were second class citizens by law, with hundreds of fewer rights than men. The legacy of that hasn't exactly evaporated just because the laws have changed. Women with the exact same resume as a man still get called for an interview less often (a lot less often). While this study applies to STEM, it applies more broadly as well.
"There is no doubt that the gender gap exists, and STEM fields are biased against women. Social psychologist Corinne Moss-Racusin's research includes an experiment that asked scientists (both male and female) to evaluate identical resumes. The only difference was the name on the top of the resume: one said "John" and the other said "Jennifer."
John was more likely to be hired. Those that were willing to hire Jennifer offered her, on average, $4,000 less per year (13 percent) than John. They were also less willing to take the time to mentor Jennifer. It is interesting to note that female scientists also favored John, underlining the pervasive gender bias in STEM professions today."
There are about the same number of CEOs named John or Jon as there are women CEOs. Women make up only 28% of Congress. Until just a few years ago, it was 14%. Naming three or four high profile women doesn't exactly disprove anything.
Pray tell, what other social issues have disadvantaged women other than an andro-centric culture that has systemically marginalized and oppressed them for hundreds of years?
Patriarchy doesn't mean "men win at everything and women always lose" and pretending that women, who are still demonstrably struggling for basic human rights in many instances, are "just trying to grab what little power they don't already have" is tone deaf in the extreme. Do some research next time before you just spout off about what’s in your emotions.
"There are numerous ways that the social system of patriarchy is harmful, to men, women, and everyone. Patriarchy and men are not synonymous. Even though men have historically, and to some extent, still are closer to the top of the pyramid of power as a demographic, with most economic, political, and social power still overwhelmingly in male hands, this is not a slam dunk. Only a relatively small number of elite men truly feel the effects of their advantages — typically they are the ones who are rich, white, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied, and well-educated.
Some other men may exert some measure of control over women in their family, but that is likely to be the most overt and semi-conscious expression of patriarchy in their lives. They often have no real understanding of the obstacles they do not face that women deal with on a continual basis — perhaps in part, because they face their own obstacles and challenges (and it’s a zero-sum system).
Patriarchy is a dynamic based in social stratification that includes not only gender, but race, sexuality, able-bodiedness, education, wealth, and other elements of class stratification. Things like police brutality are a manifestation of the dominance hierarchy aspects. So too is sexual harassment. It’s a way to remind women of their place, as well as a way to exert dominance. What it’s not is a binary where men rule and win in everything and women are always subject and lose. It’s a lot more complex than that."
Edit: Read this story to learn more about what patriarchy actually is and means:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/06/22/986641/-Defining-Perpetuating-Challenging-Patriarchy
“The third aspect that Johnson calls out is that patriarchal society is male-centered, focusing on the experience of men as the human experience. He says, “Pick up any newspaper or go to any movie theater and you’ll find stories primarily about men and what they’ve done or haven’t done or what they have to say about either”. Even many of the most successful “chick flicks”, like “Sleepless in Seattle” or “Pretty Women” are still built around a male protagonist, while movies where all the key characters are female, like “Thelma and Louise” or “Fried Green Tomatoes” generally have less broad appeal. Until recently, most medical research was done on men, with the assumption that the results would equally apply to women, which more recently is proving not always to be true. And try looking around the room the next time you are at a restaurant or in a meeting at work. Even when there is a fairly even mix of women and men around the table, in most (though not all) instances the men do more of the talking. Also notice how often when women begin to dominate a conversation, men tend to drift off.”
