Feminism

=== Patriarchy ===
{{main|Patriarchy}}
[[File:"Female Muslims- The tsar, beys and khans took your rights away" – Azeri, Baku, 1921 (Mardjani).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|"Female Muslims- The tsar, beys and khans took your rights away" – Soviet poster issued in [[Azerbaijan]], 1921]]
Patriarchy is a social system in which society is organized around male authority figures. In this system, fathers have authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege and is dependent on female subordination.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Encyclopedia of sex and gender |year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan Reference |location=Detroit, Mich.}}</ref> Most forms of feminism characterize patriarchy as an unjust social system that is oppressive to women. [[Carole Pateman]] argues that the patriarchal distinction "between masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pateman|first=Carole|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cJM6AwAAQBAJ|title=The Sexual Contract|date=25 March 2014|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7456-8035-4|location=|pages=207}}</ref> In [[feminist theory]] the concept of patriarchy often includes all the social mechanisms that reproduce and exert male dominance over women. Feminist theory typically characterizes patriarchy as a social construction, which can be overcome by revealing and critically analyzing its manifestations.<ref>{{cite book|author=Tickner, Ann J.|chapter=Patriarchy|title=Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy: Entries PZ|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2001|isbn=978-0-415-24352-0|pages=1197–98|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lSmU3aXWIAYC&pg=PA1197}}</ref> Some radical feminists have proposed that because patriarchy is too deeply rooted in society, separatism is the only viable solution.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hoagland|first=Sarah Lucia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljaGAAAAIAAJ|title=Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Value|date=1988|publisher=Institute of Lesbian Studies|isbn=978-0-934903-03-5}}</ref> Other feminists have criticized these views as being anti-men.<ref>Friedan, Betty. The Second Stage: With a New Introduction. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981 1986 1991 1998, 1st Harvard Univ. Press pbk. ed. ({{ISBN|0-674-79655-1}}) 1998.</ref><ref>Bullough, Vern L. Human sexuality: an encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, 1994, {{ISBN|0-8240-7972-8}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Echols|1989|loc=p.&nbsp;78 & n.&nbsp;124 ("124. Interview with Cindy Cisler".) and see p.&nbsp;119}}</ref>