Patriarchy was geographically universal in the ancient world

Evidence

We have evidence of women being excluded from significant political and military power as far back as 5,000 years. For example, by 3,000 BC, women in Sumer were excluded from almost all important political and military decisions. Similarly, approximately 3,700 years ago, the legal code of ancient Babylon (i.e., the Code of Hammurabi) built upon the patriarchal tendencies of Sumer and prescribed rather draconian punishments for women who challenged male dominance (Johns, 1947; Seagle, 1971). Even though some societies were occasionally ruled by very powerful individual queens, in the aggregate, the ultimate military power has always been in the hands of men. Furthermore, patriarchy in the ancient world was not restricted to Islamic societies and areas in and adjacent to the Near East, but also has been documented among the ancient and traditional cultures in Middle and South America, Africa, among the ancient Germanic tribes, and the ancient cultures in India, China and Japan (Abel & Nelson, 1990; Beck & Keddie, 1978). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3175

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges the common assumption that patriarchy is a Near Eastern/Islamic import; connects to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ theme of cross-cultural moralizing. — connects to: Earth-goddess cults survived on the periphery of patriarchal sun cults as complements to them — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 340