12.3 The Power of Gender: Patriarchy and Matriarchy

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Explain the concept of gender ideology and identify two such ideologies.
• Discuss how patriarchy is embedded in practices and institutions.
• Suggest reasons for the absence of matriarchy.
• Give two examples that complicate views of patriarchal dominance.

In cultural constructions of gender, two or more genders are defined in an overall system that assigns various forms of behavior and activity to different categories or gendered realms of society. Some of those activities are considered more important than others, and some of those behaviors are more authoritative and dominant. Gender is not only a system of differences between the realms of female and male but also a system of power between those two realms.