Does the patriarchy really exist?

The patriarchy, and its second cousin misogyny, are on the march! Women’s rights are headed back to the dark ages. Or so we are told on a continuous loop from the mainstream media.

Those good folks who run the Internet tell me: “patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are held by men.”

As a second opinion: “within feminist scholarship, patriarchy has been understood more broadly as the system in which men as a group are constructed as superior to women as a group and as such have authority over them.”

Its second cousin, “misogyny, hatred or prejudice against women, typically exhibited by men. It is generally accepted that misogyny is a consequence of patriarchy (male-dominated society), and the term may be applied to certain individuals as well as larger systems, societies, or cultures.”

I hate to be a killjoy, but I call BS. Let us analyze reality rather than just wallowing in our own prejudices and emotions.

Almost 80% of all 1-12 schoolteachers are female. For kindergarten and pre-school the number is almost 97% female. Today, well over half of all principals are female; although to be fair one must note this was not always the case.

For most K-12 students, having a male teacher is a relatively rare occurrence. I’m certain many students can go their entire K-12 careers with never having a male instructor. This has been going on for generations.

These general trends continue to higher education too. Almost 60% of all college students are female.

Yet somehow, we are to believe that in this environment — which spans multiple generations — women are willingly instilling in their students — and themselves — patriarchal and misogynic beliefs. Free women are supposedly doing this, not men!

If you buy into this general thinking you must accept that women are the primary supporters, teachers, and purveyors of the patriarchy! Excuse me if I don’t buy into this BS.

Am I claiming there is no such thing as sex discrimination? Not hardly. I have extensive experience in the business world and I can assure you discrimination against females is a very real thing. Any working woman can tell you it is true. It might not be as bad as it was in the past but it still most certainly exists.

And it doesn’t just exist because of men; women actively participate too. Most employees prefer a male boss, even women.

This is why I always recommend hiring women if you can find them. Due to this discrimination, women can be a far better bargain. For example, if you are hiring for a position that pays $70K a year, you can get far more skills from a woman at this pay than a man. Just the way it is.

But of course, you must find this qualified woman and they are in big demand. Why would quality women — from a skill-set perspective — be in demand in our supposedly patriarchal and misogynistic society? It makes no sense. Unless of course it isn’t true. 

Perhaps this is just cover, a smokescreen, for people who have other goals. In fact, many people speak of the over-feminization of our culture — for both boys and girls. Why would the patriarchy and its misogynistic ways allow this to occur? Mainly because it isn’t.

There are many reasons why girls aren’t as drawn to STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) classes as are boys. But let’s not accept the false thinking that states this is because their teachers — almost all woman — are holding them back. That is BS on stilts.

There are many reasons for a lot of things but the patriarchy isn’t one of them. Don’t buy into it. 

Don’t let your children buy into it either. There isn’t some unseen, yet all-powerful, force holding them back — whether boy or girl. That’s simply an excuse waiting to be used.

And don’t buy into this crap which is driven primarily by people with their own ulterior motives with none of them looking out for you or your children. The patriarchy be damned.

John Conlin is an expert in organizational design and change. He also holds a BS in Earth Sciences and an MBA and is the founder and President of E.I.C. Enterprises, a 501(c)3 non-profit. He has been published in American Greatness, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, American Thinker, the Houston Chronicle, the Denver Post, and Public Square Magazine among others.

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