What civilization was least patriarchal and whyyy? please i need help (10 points!)?

Question

What civilization was least patriarchal between the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and the Shang? Why?

please i need help.

thanks.

Answer 1

Egypt.  Lineage was traced through women and property was passed through women.  There were female rulers (pharoahs).  

No such parallels in Mesopotamia and Shang.

Answer 2

Interesting question to think about very seriously.

Which society or civilization is patriarchal. Patriarchal is the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primarily responsibility for the welfare of, hence authority over, their families. The concept of patriarchy is often used, by extension (in athropology and feminism, for example), to refer to the expectation that men take primariy responsibility for the welfare of the community as a whole, acting as representatives via public office.

I am not against the Patriarchal Societies like having family values and the Male being the leader in the house but what I am serious against is the Male Dominance, forcing women and treat them like slaves, wife battery and disrespect them but however women must not get carry away with the strong elements of Femininism.    

The feminine form of patriarchy is matriarchy, but there are no known examples of matriarchies from any point in history. Encyclopædia Britannica says it is a "hypothetical social system". The Britannica article goes on to note, "The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development is now generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed

Patriarchal family structure rested on men's control of most or all property, starting with land itself; marriage was based on property relationships and it was assumed that marriage, and therefore subordination to men, was the normal condition for the vast majority of women. A revealing symptom of patriarchal families was the fact that, after marrying, a woman usually moved to the orbit (and often the residence) of her husband's family.

Mesopotamian Civilization.

Characteristic patriarchal conditions developed in Mesopotamian Civilization. Marriages were arranged for women by their parents, with a formal contract being drawn up. The husband served as authority over his wife and children just as he did over his slaves. Early Sumerians may have given women greater latitude than came to be the case later on. Their religion attributed considerable power to female sexuality and their early law gave women important rights, so that they could not be treated as outright property. Still, even in Sumerian law the adultery of a wife was punishable by death, while a husband's adultery was treated far more lightly - a double standard characteristic of patriarchalism. Mesopotamian societies after Sumerian times began to emphasize the importance of a woman's virginity on marriage and imposed the veil on respectable women when in public to emphasize their modesty. These changes showed a progressive cramping of women's social position and daily freedoms. At all points, a good portion of Mesopotamian law (such as the Hammurabic code) was given over to prescriptions for women, assuring certain basic protections but clearly emphasizing limits and inferiority.

Shang Civilization.

The Shang-dynasty is part of Shang Civilization and was build upon a patriarchal system, and archeological findings have proved that the people worshipped their male ancestors (zu). During the reign of Shang people worshipped both spirits of nature and the soals of their ancestors. Shangdi had the highest rank among all spirits, it was the symbol of The Highest Ruler, a supernatural force which ruled the human world. Alike with the king, Shangdi had a lot of subjects, both heavenly and earthly spirits. It was also believed that the soals of the king's ancestors often paid Shangdi a visit and it were these soals the Shang-king usually turned to when he wanted to send his prays and questions to The Highest Ruler.

Egyptian Civilization.

Patriarchal environment also could differ from one agricultural society to another. The Egyptian civilization gave women, at least in the upper classes, more recognition and witnessed a number of powerful queens. The beautiful Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaton, seemed to have been leading and prominent in the religious disputes in this reign. Some agricultural societies gave women a certain significance and weight by tracing descendants from mothers rather than fathers. This was true, for instance, of Jewish law. But even these matrilineal societies held women to be inferior to men; such as, Jewish law insisted that men and women worship separately. So while variety is truly important, it usually operated within a framework of basic patriarchalism. It was around 2000 B.C. that an Egyptian writer, Ptah Hotep, put patriarchal beliefs as clearly as anyone in the early civilizations: "If you are a man of note, found for yourself a household, and love your wife at home, as it beseems. Fill her belly, clothe her back. . . . But hold her back from getting the mastery. Remember that her eye is her stormwind, and her v***a and mouth are her strength."

Greek civilization

Women had a different role in ancient Greek society than they do today. It also seems likely that the role of women changed radically from ancient, pre-classical times to the more familiar classical period. For the classical period there are many sources for study. The classical Greeks were able writers, poets, artists, and even historians. The archaic Greeks are more difficult to study as we have to depend upon archeology and the oral tradition of myth.

Classical Greeks were definitely patriarchal with women subserviant to men. Only native male Greeks could be citizens. Women obtained power only when they became the wife of an influential citizen or could obtain some influence by their relation to a man. They were restricted in their activities to mainly within the realm of a family or in the context of the activity of a courtesan. Within the family they might weave, grind grain, direct servants, and mind children. Even so, women were not without their influence, as is stated in a play by Euripides: "Women run households and protect within their homes what has been carried across the sea, and without a woman no home is clean or prosperous. Consider their role in religion, for that, in my opinion, comes first. We women play the most important part, because women prophesy the will of Loxias in the oracles of Phoibos. And at the holy site of Dodona near the Sacred Oak, females convey the will of Zeus to inquirers from Greece. As for the sacred rituals for the fates and the Nameless goddesses [i.e. the Furies], all these would not be holy if performed by men, but prosper in women's hands. In this way women have a rightful share (d**e) in the service of the Gods" (Neils, Worshipping Athena, p 78)

Roman civilization.

The ancient Roman world was a very patriarchal culture, with men holding all the positions of power. Women and children really did not have many rights. In reality, life must have been not easy for the majority of people in Rome when one considers all the years of war and conquer: life was not difficult for anyone. Although the Romans were not pioneers in social equality, the civilization had a great influence on both men and women who came later. They were building an empire and as the legendary H.I. Marrou stated in his book, A History of Education in Antiquity.

It was so evident that women had certain prescribed roles to play within Roman society: child bearer, mother, daughter, and wife. They were considered citizens, but they were not permitted to vote or participate in government procedures. If they did try, it was frowned upon. Some women were more educated than others and they all had some personal freedoms. Lower class women could work, but upper class women were expected to meet the expectations that their families had set out for them and stay at home. None of the women really had their own identities or an array of personal choices put before them. There are always some exceptions and surely there were individual women who were considered very radical in their time. Women were overshadowed by the men in their lives because Rome was a very patriarchal society, built on a peasant culture and on the old customs of mos maiorum.

As Cicero said, "the strength of Rome is founded on her ancient customs as much as on the strength of her sons."

Women probably did not have much of a life, especially those of the lower classes, and they died at a young age. One can only hope that they had pleasures that were never documented by the men who wrote about them. Some did get involved in the rites of Bacchus and probably did enjoy themselves a great deal for short periods of time -- before they were caught.

All the civilization in the past were patriarchal in their society because the men were dominated during these times because there were only concentrating on building an empire for their particular group of people or ethnicity.  

I hope this will helps and a lot reading had to be done as well as a lot summarisation had be done too.