The Creation of Patriarchy

A major new work by a leading historian and pioneer in women's studies, The Creation of Patriarchy is a radical reconceptualization of Western civilization that makes gender central to its analysis. Gerda Lerner argues that male dominance over women is not "natural" or biological, but the
product of an historical development begun in the second millennium B.C. in the Ancient Near East. As patriarchy as a system of organizing society was established historically, she contends, it can also be ended by the historical process.

Focusing on the contradiction between women's central role in creating society and their marginality in the meaning-giving process of definition and interpretation, Lerner explores such fascinating questions as: What can account for women's exclusion from the historical process? What could explain
the long delay--more than 3,500 years--in women's coming to consciousness of their own subordinate position? She goes back to the cultures of the earliest known civilizations--those of the ancient Near East--to discover the origins of the major gender metaphors of Western civilization. Using
historical, literary, archaeological, and artistic evidence, she then traces the development of these ideas, symbols, and metaphors and their incorporation into Western civilization as the basis of patriarchal gender relations.

A radical reinterpretation of Western civilization argues that male dominance has resulted from, and can be ended by, historical process, and identifies key developments.

"Excellent and worthwhile for a course on status and gender."--Prof. Hedrich, UC Santa Cruz

"Lerner places the patriarchal issues in a larger historical context--which is absolutely necessary for understanding how patriarchy functioned in ancient Israel, and how it finds expression in the Hebrew Scriptures."--Alice L. Laffey, College of the Holy Cross

"A provocative and challenging interpretation of the historical subordination of women."--The History Teacher

"Lerner's work represents a significant step forward in the development of the feminist critique of the patriarchal edifice of knowledge and the writing of women's history....A very serious, provocative and important book."--America

"An important book, worthy of careful study."--A.D. Kilmer, University of California, Berkeley

"May well be the most important work in feminist theory to appear in our generation."--New Directions for Women

"History in the grand mode....[It] should be on everyone's reading list."--The Women's Review of Books

"This book dramatically reopens a chapter of women's history that historians had thought was forever closed to them--the origins of the collective dominance of women by men."--Kathryn Kish Sklar, State University of New York, Binghamton

"Written by one of the most brilliant historians of our era, this book dramatically reopens a chapter of women's history that historians had thought was forever closed to them--the origins of the collective dominance of women by men. Its evidence is fascinating, its arguments compelling, and its
conclusions full of significance for our time as well as the distant past."--Kathryn Kish Sklar, University of California, Los Angeles

"A magnificent achievement."--William Chafe, Duke University

"The Creation of Patriarchy gives us a grand historical framework that was impossible even to imagine before the enlightenment about women's place in the world provided by her earlier work and that of other feminist scholars."--Ms. Magazine

"The Creation of Patriarchy has the boldness, authority, and richness of The Second Sex."--Catharine R. Stimpson, Rutgers University

"A vastly ambitious and admirable, even heroic study...a truly major work....Of marvelous intellectual quality."--History: Reviews of New Books

"The Creation of Patriarchy sets out in the best tradition of sophisticated, disinterested scholarship to explore the origins of patriarchy."--Judaica

"[Lerner] has brought together a valuable body of information bearing on the condition of women in ancient Near Eastern societies."--Religious Studies Review

"Ought to be read by all Jews and Christians attempting to be more faithful to what they have already found in the biblical record--namely, the equality of all humans in the eyes of God."--The Christian Century

"Lerner has produced...rich insights into the history of women, the family, slavery, prostitution, religion and class....[She has] written a book that cannot be ignored."--Ann L. Barstow, CGWHP Newsletter

"[A] beautifully written book...Her aim is not only to raise provocative ideas but also to point out that in order to have an accurate history of humankind, it will be necessary for women to reclaim their own history and contributions to culture."--CHOICE

"An excellent, focused study of the origins, causes and effects of Patriarchy. I use much of her information in my class 'Women and Religion' because it is so well documented, researched and explained. I have already ordered the book for our library."--Marianne Ferguson, Buffalo State College