Families and patriarchy: From normative prescription to creative subversion

Abstract

This paper discusses patriarchy as a normative discourse on family roles, as patriarchal values have crossed centuries and still mark today's family constitution. Patriarchy linked to capitalism is also discussed as one possible explanation for women's oppression in the social system. In spite of social and legal achievements about equality rights between men and women, discrimination established by patriarchy is a kind of gender violence and women's human rights violation. However, despite patriarchy's normative prescription, families invent other family roles in their daily experiences, which explodes the remaining hegemonic patriarchal normative discourse. It also shows the creative and subversive human resistance power against imposed prescriptions, specially female resistance power against patriarchal oppression that has been imposed upon women for centuries.