Isn't that how patriarchy works?

I'll try to explain. Some of this is factual and some of it is just speculation.

Let's go back thousands of years - before agriculture and domestication. Basically, before humans actually started producing their means of survival and depended completely on what they could hunt (game) or gather (plant based food) or find (water sources). They rarely had any surplus lasting more than a few days. This created the material basis for an egalitarian society. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer#Social_and_economic_structure)

As population grew (or in relatively densely populated areas), there was growing competition among tribes for means of survival. As clashes became more frequent, males, being stronger and expendable, came to form a warrior class and women generally stayed back. Groups where women fought and died in battle would end soon as there would be no one to create another generation.

When agriculture and domestication began, so did people start settling down and accumulating surplus. Men, being organizers of warfare, became organizers of state too. When battles were fought, men often took possession of land, cattle and enslave the women of the enemy. As such, men started to [1] accumulate the means of survival [2] objectify women Gradually, women became a commodity - to be exchanged for social or political purposes, to be captured in battle, etc. etc. Females depended on men for their survival (as men owned all land and livestock etc.) and protection (as men monopolized state and military). The value of women to society was now reduced to being source of sexual pleasure for men, maintaining male household, taking care of children (who are now defined as the man's) etc.

So men now defined the terms of how females should behave or what was expected from them. They defined what was considered sexually attractive and how women should correspondingly adopt these standards. Men now defined what women could do and what women "shouldn't". These standards and terms created by men were glorified as something "God" willed or was "Natural female behavior": -Women should dress or present themselves according to what is sexually appealing to men rather than what is comfortable or utilitarian Ex: Chinese Foot binding, Lipstick, plucking eye brows etc. -A "good woman" is a good piece of private property. She was always faithful to her husband. She maintained her virginity for him till the day they married. Women who didn't do this were socially stigmatized as "whores" and lost their social value for ever. -Good women don't complain, don't voice their opinion (or vote, though this changed in the last century - I will explain later why patriarchy weakened a bit) because they were "stupid".

As you can see, these "biases" are not a product of psychology or bad upbringing. They are not innate. They are a product of social evolution. They have a material basis - the division of labor between sexes and the fact that men controlled the means of survival. Men also try to control the reproductive rights of women. The current abortion debate is to be seen in this context.

Now this division of labor is gradually disappearing in the west - women are entering the workforce more and more. They are also starting to own more and more property. It's not a surprise that feminism appeared in advanced western societies. That's not because they were "more intelligent" but because these societies have socio-economic conditions (or material basis as I call it) necessary for such a consciousness to develop. As this material basis for gender hierarchy is disappearing patriarchy is starting to weaken a bit. But for it to disappear completely two things must disappear: 1: There must be complete equality between men and women in all fields. There is a long way to go for this. Though most of patriarchy would go away with this, this is not sufficient as the biological basis for patriarchy still remains: 2: Reproductive technology must be developed as rapidly and as much as possible - contraceptives, abortion, test-tube babies etc. and these must be made available to all women easily. As women gain control of their body and of their reproductive rights, patriarchy will weaken even more.

But even if this is done, there is still another basis for patriarchy left - men are physically stronger and more aggressive than women. How this discrepancy is overcome, I have no idea yet.

(Forgive my typos...)