@paragonnate: Certainly not.
@decaf_wizard said:
No I am not. There were several societies where women were dominant, had equal or near equal status or a member of the female sex rose to extreme political power at one point or another.
Be careful of broad generalizations
I'm talking specifically about American society and further back its roots in western Europe. Women as a class were legally and socially subordinate to men. They did not share the full rights men enjoyed, nor the position in society. By and large the vast majority of landowners, merchants, political figures, military leaders, and scholars were men. Not because women were not capable of such positions, but because they occupied a second class status in society and were largely restricted from such pursuits. In many cases women were forbidden from these positions. Women often could not attend universities, or engage in many professions. Any property she owned would legally become her husband's upon marriage. You act as if I am saying the reason women had no power is society was somehow their fault. I am not saying anything of the sort. It is lack of opportunity, not lack of value that held women back.
In Europe matriarchal societies, or societies where women had equal standing were the exception, not the rule and by the Renaissance they were effectively non-existent. There are strong individual women throughout history, but again they were the exception, the few with the combination of tenacity and intelligence, status and plain luck to be able to break through. This was of course extremely difficult given that male dominance was the doctrine of the time, as was recognized by Thomas Paine in 1774 when he wrote "If we take a survey of ages and of countries, we shall find the women, almost without exception are adored and oppressed. They are robbed of freedom of will by the laws.Yet such, I am sorry to say, is the lot of women over the whole earth. Man with regard to them, has been either an insensible husband or an oppressor."
While Paine lamented the fact women were treated as inferiors, Antoine Leonard Thomas disagreed writing in 1772 that "Because of their 'delicate' natures and natural modesty, women are less able than men to feel and express strong emotions, to excel in intellectual pursuits or to create great art. They are by nature inferior to, and dependent upon men, and their primary function is to serve as wives and mothers. They should therefore be excluded from the public sphere and be educated only for a domestic role".
Likewise, Rousseau wrote "Men and women are not equal, it is the part of one to be active and strong, the other to be passive and weak. Woman is intended to please man and their education must be wholly directed to give them pleasure, and to be useful to them".
And also this gem,"A female wit is a scourge to her husband...to everybody. Outside her home she makes herself ridiculous as she tries to assume a role for which she is unfitted....Her honour is to be unknown; her glory is the respect of her husband."
It is a well-documented fact that women did not have equal social, political, or economic standing in American and western European society. I have provided just a few excerpts from great thinkers of the time to document this historical reality. To pretend that men didn't wield the vast majority of social power over the past few hundred years of our society would be to ignore that reality.
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