Patriarchy

          Bell Hook defines Patriarchy as "a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence." What I interpreted from this reading was that Patriarchy is a massive issue not only here in the United States, but around the globe. And until we figure out how to treat every human being as an equal, there will be little to no progression in our society. How can we change the way that people think though? It is clear that most men think is a patriarchal matter, hence the still ongoing issue. I think that it comes down to the way you were raised and your daily interactions/advertisements that you see. If you lived in a household which was male dominated, chances are your future household will have the same practices. And if we are constantly seeing ads which promote male dominance, male superiority, chances are we will think it's normal and just move along with our day.

         Patriarchy is a huge issue, especially in foreign middle eastern countries. Countries such as Pakistan do not have any non-discrimination laws when it comes to hiring women, nor does the law mandate equal pay. There has been only one female head of state, Benazir Bhutto, but she was assassinated in 2007. Another country where there is a strong tie to patriarchy is Yemen, where there has never been a female head of state and women only have partial access to financial services. In Syria, daughters do not have inheritance rights, the male gets everything, this was astonishing to me. It doesn't feel like we are progressing as a race, it's as if we're still stuck in the early 1900's when women did not even have the right to vote. Women in these countries are not given an opportunity, they are being excluded from all the important decisions that will shape their nations. "Patriarchy promotes insanity. It is at the root of the psychological ills troubling men in our nation." (Hook 30) This quote is perfect, Hook says that patriarchy is troubling the men, and as we all know there is definitely something troubling about Israel and Pakistan right now, perhaps they do need women in power to reshape their nations.





/https://nordic.businessinsider.com/the-16-worst-countries-for-gender-equality-2017-11/