FACT SHEET: Global Decline of ‘Patriarchalism’ (Patriarchy)
[Compiled by Frances Forde Plude from The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, 3 vols, by Manuel Castells, 2nd ed.]
“Patriarchalism is a founding structure of all contemporary societies … characterized by the institutionally-enforced authority of males over females and their children in the family unit…. The patriarchal family, the cornerstone of patriarchalism, is being challenged … by the inseparably related processes of the transformation of women’s work and the transformation of women’s consciousness.” - Manuel Castells
In the late twentieth century we have witnessed what amounts to a mass insurrection of women globally against their oppression.
The challenge to patriarchalism is one of the most powerful factors presently inducing fundamentalist movements aimed at restoring the patriarchal order.
There is a transformation of personality in our society, resulting from the transformation of family structure and sexual norms. This is interaction between the network society and the power of identity, transforming us.
Social and economic factors impact the changing family structure: the dissolution of households by divorce or separation; delay in coupling; partnerships outside marriage; increasing variation in family units; and increasing autonomy of women in their reproductive behavior.
The divorce rate more than doubled between 1971 and 1990 in the UK, France, Canada and Mexico. One Muslim country studied had a higher divorce rate in 1990 than that of Italy, Mexico or Japan. In the US the divorce rate per 100 marriages rose from 42.3 in 1970 to 54.8 in 1990. By the 1990s, the percentage of single households oscillates between 20 percent and 39.6 percent of all households (24.5 percent for the US).
Children born out of wedlock in the US result as much from poverty and lack of education as from women’s self-affirmation.
In the US, women’s labor participation rate went up from 51.1 percent in 1973 to 70.5 percent in 1994.
In most of the world, the majority of labor is still agricultural (but not for long). Thus, most women still work in agriculture (80 percent of economically active women in sub-Saharan Africa, and 60 percent in southern Asia).
There is a direct correspondence between the type of services linked to informationalization of the economy and the expansion of women’s employment in advanced countries. In the US and the UK, 85 percent of the female labor force is in service industries.
The supposed submissiveness of women workers is an enduring myth; however, teachers and nurses globally have mobilized in defense of their demands with greater vehemence than male-dominated steel or chemical workers’ union in recent times.
Probably the most important factor in inducing the expansion of women’s employment is their flexibility as workers. Women account for the bulk of part-time and temporary employment and for a growing share of self-employment.
As women’s financial contribution becomes a decisive factor in household budgets, female bargaining power in the household increases significantly.
As women’s identity is redefined, what is negated is woman’s identity as defined by men and enshrined in the patriarchal family.
There is a fundamental commonality underlying the diversity of global feminism: the effort to redefine womanhood in direct opposition to patriarchalism.
A key development from the 1980s onwards is the extraordinary rise of grassroots organizations, most enacted and led by women, in the metropolitan areas of the developing world. This massive networked action is transforming women’s consciousness and social roles, even in the absence of an articulated feminist ideology.
The feminist movement globally displays very different shapes and orientations, depending upon the cultural, institutional, and political contexts in which it arises. The strength and vitality of the feminist movement lies in its diversity, in its adaptability to cultures and ages.
What is at issue is not the disappearance of the family but its profound diversification, and the change in its power system.
The feminist global picture varies. In Europe, in every single country, there is a pervasive presence of feminism. There is a widespread feeling in Russian society that women could play a decisive role in rejuvenating leadership. In industrialized Asia, patriarchalism still reigns, barely challenged
The ability or inability of feminist and sexual identity social movements to institutionalize their values will depend on their relationship to the state, the last apparatus of patriarchalism throughout history.