ABSTRACT
Over the past twenty-five years feminist historians have demonstrated the patriarchal nature of traditional European society. The precise nature of this patriarchy, including its methods and rhetoric, changed with the passage of time, but its primary purpose and its primary effect have always been the subordination of females.1 The subordination began at birth, when males often received better treatment than females, continued through marriage, when women passed from the control of their fathers to the control of their husbands, and did not even end at death, when burial customs privileged men. In addition to documenting the nature, purpose and effects of patriarchal society feminist historians have also demonstrated that women were not passive bystanders in their subordination. In other words, women challenged patriarchy.2
