Why men?

[the last donut of the night]

I've had this question for a while now. Patriarchy, according to socialist feminists, originated with the creation of private property. I agree with this idea, but I still am not sure why males got the upper hand in this arrangement. Couldn't women have easily also gotten the higher position? Why didn't they accumulate property?

Thanks.

[Kléber]

Well, humans are a sexually dimorphic species. Men produce more testosterone which tends to slightly increase body size and muscle mass which is why warrior castes, and then the slaveowning and feudal aristocracies that grew out of them, tended to be male-dominated. It also has its downside in causing emotional imbalances which is probably one of the reasons why women tended to assume leadership roles in primitive societies.

Thankfully, today the mechanization of industry, agriculture and warfare abolishes the effective distinctions between women and men in all important categories of activity. Therefore, the continued political and economic oppression of women can not be blamed on the dimorphism in the human species, but is everywhere a result of outmoded exploitative production relations and their accompanying forms of reactionary thinking.

[Demogorgon]

Men don't have to bare children.

That isn't the whole story of course, men tend to be physically stronger as well which obviously helped secure power, but the most important factor I believe was the reproductive one. Without control over when and if to have children, women will obviously find it very difficult to compete with those who don't have that disadvantage.

[Kléber]

Engels argued that bearing children had actually given women positions of authority in primitive societies, because, prior to the patriarchal family system, maternal descent was clear but paternal descent wasn't.

[9]

Engels argued that bearing children had actually given women positions of authority in primitive societies, because, prior to the patriarchal family system, maternal descent was clear but paternal descent wasn't.

Right, if I am remembering correctly, it was - in Engels view (and I agree) - private property that marked the primary division of the sexes in which the woman was inferior to the man.