No Stupid Questions

Oh hey, anthropology questions on a primarily western instance filled with Americans and Europeans, this will end well.

Simple answer: It heavily depends on the region and time period, there were periods of equality and periods of great inequality in every area of the -- it was Greece. and the Germanic tribes that eventually formed Rome. That is the reason why it is prevalent in western culture as a meme, as well as anywhere western culture colonized.

Complex Answer:

Women have historically been equal to men or held in higher positions of power than men for most of human history. In early human societies (and intact uncontacted societies today, from observation) there was no clear sexual hierarchy, so we can conclude it didn't really start there. From western development we see women in equal roles in pre-dynastic Egypt and across multiple middle eastern areas. While some greek tribes (and for that matter some germanic tribes) did have women in spiritual or leadership roles, this was incredibly uncommon and as 'European' culture became the 'civilized' culture, women took on a much more subservient, lesser role in society; as they saw the male form as more capable.

As one culture and viewpoint started to dominate, it started to leak in and infect practically every aspect of society. Early Catholicism and christianity, for instance, had women as equals, though the church lost that idea by the 9th century. By the 19th century when we see modern women's liberation movements, a fully patriarchal society had developed which was incredibly domineering and widespread. Thanks to colonization by western European powers.

Pretty much from the dawn of societies. Generational wealth and progeny is extremely important, and women must be controlled so that provenance of her children may be assured.

In the Bible you constantly see themes that don't make sense until you understand how important that stuff was. Abraham was asked to sacrifice the thing most precious to him: his son. God killed the first-born of Egypt. Lot's daughters had sex with their dad because that was the only way to ensure that their 'pure' line continued. Calling back to Abraham, God himself sacrificed what? His son.

Pre-agriculture societies were probably pretty egalitarian. And the idea that hunting and gathering was segregated by sex doesn't have much evidence besides "common sense" and vibes.

My understanding, and it is completely casual, layman level understanding, is that patriarchy started around the birth of property and inheritance.

There's plenty of evidence (that someone already linked to a layman's level article) showing that our earliest societies didn't have gendered hierarchy at all, and that it wasn't all patriarchal when it started.

But for the most part, the control of women was only a useful thing once the need to have control over inheritance became important. If you don't have land or wealth to pass on, then there's really no point to one sex/gender being dominant to another. There isn't a point to it in that regard in my opinion, since I don't view biological offspring to be more worthy of inheritance than otherwise, but some people did care, especially when leadership came with a great deal of ownership as well.

Afaik, that's when patriarchy became something that was etched into laws and religion. When the leadership, and thus ownership, was passed down, and the passing went from father to son. When that's in place, controlling reproduction becomes paramount, and to control reproduction, you have to control women since while you couldn't prove who someone's father was way back then, it was hella hard to fake who gave birth.

the word you're looking for is patriarchy 🥰

Church out the history section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy

Short version seems to be: it's not older than agriculture.

No idea. I mean my exposure to it is with the bible and christiantity but asia seemed to have a lot of it to. Pagan europe felt a bit less so especially as you head north. Native peoples im not sure but did not seem to be so stark. I honestly never understood why inheritance and property did not flow down the maternal line. That would have at least equaled things out a bit and makes much more sense. I mean you know a womens kid is her kid mostly.

women are physically weaker on average. there was a time when physical strength was hugely important