BLOG | Is Patriarchy A Social, Spiritual Or Scientific Construct?

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Patriarchy is a term given to a system of society or government in which the father or the eldest male is the head of the family and a descent is traced through the patrilineal (father’s) line. Patriarchy is related to masculinity and masculinity comes from the most important SRY gene of the Y chromosome [1].

A chromosome is a long DNA molecule which contains the genetic material. Most human cells contain 23 pairs of chromosomes. Out of these 23 pairs, the 23rd pair is the sex determining pair. In males, this 23rd pair of chromosomes is made of one X and one Y chromosome, while in females it is made of two X chromosomes.

According to the law of nature, an offspring inherits one chromosome from each parent. When the X chromosome of the father combines with the X chromosome of the mother, a baby girl (XX) is born and when the Y chromosome of the father combines with the X chromosome of the mother, a baby boy (XY) is born. Therefore, the sex of a baby entirely depends on whether the baby inherits X or Y chromosome from the father [2].

Owing to the fact that the Y chromosome has no female counterpart so it doesn’t get shuffled around and is transferred pretty much in the original form (while saving any mutation that occurs) from grandfather to father to son. This fact has been well explained in “Aitareya Brahmana” (the Brahmana of the Shakala Shakha of the Rigveda), according to which “the husband enters the body of the wife in the shape of sperm to which the wife becomes the mother; and thus the husband is delivered from the womb of the wife in the tenth month putting in a new body on the shape of the son” [3]. As the husband is reborn in his wife, the wife is called “Jaya”.

Out of the 64 manifestations of Shiva, the concept of “Ardhanareeshwara” which represents him as half male (Purusha, Man) and half female (Prakriti, Nature) [4] clearly depicts the scientific fact that man carries both X and Y chromosomes and is thus responsible for the creation of both the sexes. In nature, as the seed holds the power to decide the plant’s variety and the plant is thus identified by the seed sown; in the same way, since man’s sperm holds the power to decide the sex of an embryo, a descent is traced through the patrilineal line.

It is quite surprising to know that even though the Y chromosome is entirely responsible for the creation of man/ masculinity, it could not protect its own structure with the course of time. This is due to the fact that unlike the X chromosome, Y chromosome has several serious fundamental flaws. For instance, besides being present as a single copy (that is only passed from father to son), a human’s Y chromosome has a high mutation rate. Now since, Y chromosome has no matching partner like the X chromosome, a mutated Y chromosome cannot retrieve the lost genetic information by homologous recombination and hence any mutation in the Y chromosome is passed from one generation to another generation [5].

Mutation in Y chromosomes that occur via genetic changes such as insertions and amplifications contribute towards infertility, morbidity and cancer in the offspring. In addition, Y chromosome is extremely vulnerable to gene deletion [6, 7] . Even a tiny deletion on the Y chromosome destabilises its transmission and causes it to lose completely during sperm production.

Besides deleterious mutation, Y chromosomes are highly susceptible to accidental loss via “genetic drift” compared to X chromosomes [8. Through sheer random assortment, an adult male may never pass on his Y chromosome if he only has female offsprings. Therefore, there is no guarantee that a well-adapted mutation free Y chromosome is always passed down to the next generation. This may lead to the accidental loss of the mutant-free Y chromosome from the population.

Inability to repair itself, inefficient selection, high mutation rate/ deletion and genetic drift are the common evolutionary forces that make Y chromosomes highly prone to degeneration. In fact, with the course of time, human’s Y chromosome has lost 97% of its ancestral genes and is left with merely ~ 55 genes compared to ~ 900 genes on the X chromosome. Y chromosome has rapidly degenerated, leaving females with two perfectly normal X chromosomes but males with one X and a shrivelled Y chromosome (one-third the size of X) [9].

Due to the deteriorating nature of Y chromosome, researchers believe that human’s Y chromosome may lose all its functional genes and extinct [5].

Impact Of COVID On Men Vs Women

Today corona virus is killing more men than women [10]. As per the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by the mid-October 2020 the corona virus has killed 17,000 more American men than women [11]. Similar is the case with most other countries which have more female population than males. Research  suggests that women have a strong immune system and so they live a longer and healthier life than men. Women do not get seriously ill from bacterial and viral infections and are well able to survive trauma than men. Besides this, men also have two to five times greater risk of developing cancer than women [12]. The secrets lie in the genetics of man (XY) and woman (XX). X chromosome contains a large number of microRNAs (Ribonucleic acid) that are involved in immune system function and unexpected cell growth (cancer) control.

At present X chromosome has 118 microRNAs in comparison with only 2 microRNAs on Y chromosome. Now since females have two X chromosomes, these provide them with two copies of all microRNAs that enhances their immunity and protection against cancer [13] . While males have only one X chromosome so a single recessive gene on that X chromosome causes X-linked diseases [14]. Based on these scientific facts, it is not a surprise that the global infant mortality rate is also higher for boys than girls.

Biologically Different

The sex differences in genetics and biological makeup of boys makes them biologically weaker and more susceptible to infectious diseases and premature death [15].

Apart from the scientific logic of tracing a descent through the patrilineal line, serious inherent flaws associated with Y chromosomes makes it extremely crucial to maintain more than sufficient mutant-free healthy copies of Y chromosome among the human population. As the people in the good old days were very well aware of these scientific facts therefore they constituted a system of society which assured due diligence/ importance to the birth of a son.

Since Indians were practicing science through spirituality in the form of social construct and religious beliefs, a system of society was thus developed where a person was believed to repay the debt he owed to his father through his son and the son in the consecrated wedded life was considered as the religious asset. In order to get a glimpse of the advance scientific knowledge that people possessed in the good old days and how this knowledge was practiced through spirituality, readers may refer to the findings of Praveen Mohan who is known worldwide for his groundbreaking research on ancient history, archeology and extraterrestrial theory [16-18].

Additionally, briefings regarding the validation of Sushruta Samhita by Nilesh Oak would also be helpful in getting a significant insight into the advanced medical science and technology that existed in India thousands of years ago [19].

In this scientific society which was based on spirituality, Rigveda ensured the purpose of marriage to enable a man become a householder and take forward the religious practices by procreating sons [20]. This laid the foundation of a patriarchal society. Even though it was a patriarchal society, indispensable importance was given to the householder’s wife by considering her as the “house herself”. According to Rigveda, “one’s house is not his home; one’s wife only is his home and a house without a wife is desolate like a forest” [21].

What Was The Concept Of Marriage?

The divine concept of the unification of two souls has been well described in Satapatha Brahmana, according to which “wife is the half of the husband and the other half being the husband himself and the two being complementary makes an integral whole” [22]. The concept of marriage was based on mutual cooperation between husband and wife to achieve continuity, stability, amity and procreation [23, 24]. Considering the profound importance of wife, it is quite obvious that the daughters were not abandoned. Today, feminists are on their way to smash the patriarchy in order to attain gender EQUALITY.

Even though feminism purports itself to be a movement for gender equality based on “Marxist’s theory of Equality”, it is all about acquiring privileges and women’s dominance over men. To know more about the historical origin and objectives of the western ideology of “feminism” and its influence on Indian society, readers may refer to the article ‘Smash The Patriarchy’ [25]. Although gender equality can be forcefully achieved in any society, it comes with a hefty cost. For instance, since the start of feminism in the U.S. in 1960, the total number of people getting married has steadily fallen while it has become more common for unmarried people to have babies. More than 50% marriages in the U.S. now end up in divorce or separation [26, 27].

Due to the declining stability of families, people are now preferring to stay unmarried. Not only fewer Americans are getting married but the birth rate for married women has also declined significantly from 121 births to 90 births per 1,000 married women from 1970 to 2016. Over the past 50 years, more women in the U.S. are having their children later in life or they are doing so in a less traditional way i.e. before marriage, without marriage or with unmarried partners [28]. In the U.S., the percentage of unmarried parents living with a child has increased from 7% (4 million) to 25% (16.6 million) from 1968 to 2017 i.e. one-in-four U.S. parents are now unmarried. With this, the share of children living with unmarried parents has also gone up from 13% (9 million) to 32% (24 million) [29] . Births outside of marriage have increased from 28% to 40% from the year 1990 to 2016 [30].

According to an estimate, by the year 2030, 45% of working women in the U.S. aged between 25 to 44 will be single [31] while most men have already started adopting MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) to live their lives with no female contact [32] . Besides, a recent survey suggests that 70% of Americans are in support of granting marriage rights to same-sex couples [33] . More recently, Alice Coffin a lesbian activist and Paris city councillor has penned a book in which she urged women to eradicate men from their minds and lives. It is not surprising that this book has racked up 5 star reviews on Amazon [34] as the concept of “hate against men” has unceasingly been used by feminists right from the start of feminism in the 1960s.

Impact On Families & Society 

Today, gender equality and liberalisation has widened the gap between men and women resulting in broken families, divorce, fatherless societies, low birth rates, mental disorders, dissatisfaction and overall chaos in the society. In such societies, children who grow up in cohabiting households (one parent and their girlfriend or boyfriend) often suffer from physical and acute mental health problems. To know more about the detrimental impact of such a society on children, readers may refer to the article “What All Indian Boys Should Know Before They Get Married?” [35].

Certainly, the relationship of a husband and wife is like a battery where husband and wife are its two terminals. The two terminals of a battery are always complementary to each other. As long as the two terminals maintain a sufficient potential difference (+ve terminal at higher potential and -ve terminal at lower potential), a steady current flows in the external circuit connected to the battery. The flow of current is always from the positive to the negative terminal and it ceases when the potential difference becomes zero. At this stage the two terminals of the battery acquire EQUAL potential and the battery becomes dead.

Likewise, when the complementary poles (opposite poles) of two magnets are brought closer they readily attract each other but when the EQUAL poles (similar poles) of two magnets are brought closer they readily repel each other. Similarly, God made man and women complementary to each other so that a strong bond be made among them by mutual co-operation for the well-being of this universe. Although the complementary nature of man and woman depicts them as unequal, they were equally important for each other BUT in their respective roles, in a manner similar to the concept of Purusha (Man) and Prakriti (Nature).

Today, although India stands second-highest in the number of COVID-19 cases globally, the mortality rate is quite low compared to most other countries such as the US, UK, Italy etc. Besides, India is also witnessing a much lower risk of men’s death from coronavirus than the rest of the world. This is all because Indians have acquired more activating KIR (killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors) immunity genes than the rest of the world [36] by following a systematic and controlled life style which was based on science and practiced through spirituality in the form of social construct and religious beliefs.

About The Author

Dr Ashutosh Agarwal, earned his doctorate from NTU, Singapore and is also an alumnus of IIT-Roorkee, India. Dr Agarwal is a researcher by profession and has published several research articles in journals of international repute.

His interest lie in men’s rights issues and gender equality. He believes that true gender equality can only be achieved via gender neutral laws and equal responsibility.

*Views expressed by the author are his own

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