Content Warning: This article mentions sexual and domestic abuse and violence

Women having less power, opportunities, responsibilities or respect in society is not just sexism, it is patriarchy. According to Liz Chondros, seeing men as more dominant than women comes from a pattern of undermining and excluding women for centuries.

An article by Liz Chondros said forms of patriarchy vary from minor to extreme, and some are so common many people may not realize it is creating a benefit towards men. Even though patriarchy is not directly oppressing women, it becomes inevitable when men are favored. While the oppression of women has decreased in the past century, men are still often seen as the dominant sex.

Chondros gave examples of how patriarchy is still seen to this day. Gender roles are something that seem to have always been around, but they were started from patriarchy and can limit women’s opportunities. For example, household chores and marriage roles show this, as women are typically expected to cook, clean and take care of children, while men are seen as the breadwinners of the family.

The idea that a woman’s role is to be a housewife leads to women being taken less seriously in the workplace and employers overlooking them and hiring men instead. Oftentimes when women are hired, they receive less pay than men for the same job or are given lower positions. According to an AAUW article, women are paid 83 cents for every dollar a man earns, as of 2020. Even after retirement, women on average are only paid 70 percent of what men receive in pensions.

According to an article by Mahamuda Rahman, some extreme and disturbing forms of patriarchy are sexual violence, domestic assault and genital mutilation. Mahamuda said many women all over the world are raped and beaten by men because they are seen as the lesser sex, and some men feel as if they can dominate them. In some countries, women’s genitals are cut so they do not feel pleasure because sex is only supposed to be enjoyable for men.

The women and gender studies program at Iowa State offers students a chance to study feminist ideas and movements, and how they are directly against patriarchy. These classes include lessons in sexism, feminist movements and the harmful effects of patriarchy.

Morgan Vos, a junior in biology, believes that this generation can make a difference in how women are treated in society, and could potentially eliminate the patriarchy so today’s women do not have to experience what past generations of women have.

“Since we haven’t entered the workforce yet, we still have time to fix everything,” said Vos. “We’re young enough that we have more progressive views and we have time to fix it, but we’re old enough that we have power to make a difference.”

Vos also said that she has not only seen women being mistreated on campus, but has also seen feminine presenting men being made fun of and talked badly about. Not only women are affected by patriarchy, but also non-masculine men with a feminine appearance or attitude.

According to Chondros, trying to end patriarchy does not mean being against men or seeing women as dominant, it simply means wanting to see men, women and non-binary people represented equally in society.