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What most of us know as "history"
is "white/male/western centric"
history - hence why many schools
have had to create African-American,
women's, and Native American
history classes to fill in the
gaps. So, to learn about the
evolution of the "history of
men's domination over women"
involves doing more work than
usual. It also involves knowing
that when you go back thousands
of years ago men's and women's
roles were more equal - women
and men were gods and goddesses,
both were warriors and everyone
was worshipped equally. And
even though most of this equality
is restricted to a time before
now, there are today many examples
of more equal cultures that
aren't based on domination.
I once heard about a community
in India, as well as among tribes
in Africa and Native American
Tribes in this country, where
men and women are equally responsible
for child rearing, hunting &
gathering, and "governing the
house and the community."
It's also important to know
that domination over women usually
goes hand-in-hand with domination
over any group challenging the
current power base - i.e. non-white
people. And all of this domination
is usually the result of exactly
that: "challenging the power
base." So my guess is that men's
domination over women came in
vogue when men began questioning
their roles in society - and
it will stay in fashion until
they realize that by equalizing
the power base they too are
gaining something.
I hope this helps.
P.S. Check our Gerda Lerner's
book The Creation of Patriarchy.
—Amy
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