PATRIARCHY AS A PARADIGM

By Alda Facio, National Advisory Board for Wings of the Butterfly
                                                                                       

Dating back some 5,000 years,  the idea of male superiority -- based on an exaggerated division between the masculine and the feminine, with an all encompassing political/religious system that slowly became  an ideological and symbolic system, eventually became THE paradigm of all  human relations and knowledge.  However, this significant fact has been  ignored or considered irrelevant by most of the great thinkers who operate under conventional paradigms.   Even  more recent proponents of “holistic” paradigms  overlook the relevancy of how gender mindsets  influence scientific and socio-political constructs and shape how we think and what we consider ‘truth.’  The popularization of the word “paradigm” is attributed to the scientist Thomas Kuhn who applied the concept  to the body of practices that define a scientific discipline and its validity as recognized by the scientific community at a specific time in history.

In his book, The Scientific Revolution, Kuhn states that a scientific paradigm includes and defines: 1) what should be observed and analyzed; 2) the types of questions that should be asked in order to find answers to objectives formulated by the scientific community; 3) how such questions should be structured, and 4) how scientific research should  interpret results. Thus, in any science, be it “soft” as in social science or “hard” as in chemistry or physics, the paradigm or mindset of that science determines what is visible and what is not, what can be done and what cannot, what is valued and what is not, etc.

Thus, I use the term “paradigm” as synonym of mindset or worldview, which refers to a certain mental structure that determines how we see and understand reality. A mindset is comprised of a series of assumptions and ways of acting upon reality or interacting with it that have been internalized by a group. This way of seeing the world creates a powerful incentive for people to accept as “real” and “good”  ONLY what fits into that particular mental construct.  

Thus, the patriarchal mindset  rarely recognizes women’s experiences or what is attributed to them (“the feminine”) as valid, relevant, important or significant. The same is true of women themselves; in the patriarchal mindset, women are less valuable, as are their ideas, values, knowledge and practices.  Thus they need to be subordinated to those who are valuable. 

This provides a clue that even in the “hard” sciences, knowledge is not neutral, universal or objective, as is assumed by Newtonian Science and its methods throughout the past 300 years.   The idea behind the mechanical paradigm that views the world and its functioning like a clock required the breakdown of a matristic cosmovision of mutual care, reciprocity, and collaboration that sees reality in a more fluid way, that sees the evolution of the universe not necessarily as happening because of certain fixed “laws” of nature  but as an ever-evolving “order” that is self organized and dynamic, therefore not subject to predictability and control.

This shift from a matristic worldview came about through the beliefs promoted by the patriarchal paradigm that defines reality in opposing dichotomies or pairs of opposing sides where male control of women responds to that “natural” order --placing male and female in a binary separation based on sex.

However, this is not the only way of understanding reality; furthermore, it is not necessarily shared by all individuals or  groups that  make up a certain society.  Society is a complex network of interactions between discourses and social practices that interact with individual and non-hegemonic collective ones.

Furthermore, paradigms co-exist within paradigms. For example the Newtonian Paradigm of science thrives within the Patriarchal Paradigm and many cosmovisions exist within a Paradigm -- for example indigenous holistic visions of the universe or quantum physicists’ vision of the cosmos -- not surprisingly worldviews that do not challenge Patriarchy

Feminism has revealed these underlying power dynamics by identifying and defining patriarchy as the manifestation and institutionalization of the domination of men over women and children that is extended to society in general. This does not imply that women lack power or rights, or no measure of political decision making or resources. It does mean however, that men are the ones who define what is important, valuable and even “real” in that framework. Thus, when we talk of a paradigm shift we are making a reference to a change in the ways in which a certain society is organized and interprets reality.  

The "Wings of the Butterfly" project is about revealing and highlighting this complexity  by  recognizing and valuing the experiences and contributions of women throughout history, affirming and making them visible to all.  Their stories show that one paradigm  is often overlooked as the root and foundaton of most hegemonic paradigms.  In order to find better ways of living on this Planet, that mindset and world view embodied in the Patriarchal Paradigm has to be challenged...

This is an excerpt of the paper: “The dominant patriarchal paradigm: An unfinished reflection” by Alda Facio for the Wings of the Butterfly Workshop on Paradigm Shift, April, 2007, San José, Costa Rica.