ABSTRACT
Patriarchy is one of the most common concepts used to attempt to explain female subordination. The idea is frequently seen as a universal condition of male power over women and is variously associated with violence, sex, marriage and the family (Walby 1990). The essential feature of patriarchy is to locate women’s oppression within the institution of the family. Originally the concept of patriarchy referred to rule not by men but by fathers (Turner 1984:155). The patriarchal extended family classically consists of: father (as head of the household), wife, sons, their wives, their children and any unmarried daughters. Thus patriarchy includes not only domination on the basis of gender but domination on the basis of age. The patriarch is in authority over not only his wife but his children even when they are adult and irrespective of their sex. Further, in some patriarchal extended families it is the elder brother, in the absence of the father, who dominates the household including his younger brothers. Age is significant in ordering social relationships within a patriarchal household, not only between the patriarch and others but for example between the inmarrying women; the most immediate oppression felt by junior wives is most frequently that of their mother-in-law. This is because she is likely to be in charge of the new wife in the day-to-day work and ensures the newcomer fulfils her responsibilities to the new household she has joined. Thus the patriarchal extended family is structured by both age and gender (Goody 1990). How much of the discussion of patriarchy in the context of gender subordination can be transferred directly to the discussion of age-based inequality?
