Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, and social privilege. A patriarchal society consists of a male-dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships. Most contemporary societies are, in practice, patriarchal. Patriarchy is associated with a set of ideas, a patriarchal ideology that acts to explain and justify this dominance and attributes it to inherent natural differences between men and women. Feminist theorists have expanded the definition of patriarchal society to describe a systemic bias against women, and most feminists saw that oppression of women
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Anarcha-feminism combines anarchism with feminism. Anarcha-feminism generally posits that patriarchy and traditional gender roles as manifestations of involuntary coercive hierarchy should be replaced by decentralized free association. Anarcha-feminists believe that the struggle against patriarchy is an essential part of class conflict and the anarchist struggle against the state and capitalism. In essence, the philosophy sees anarchist struggle as a necessary component of feminist struggle and vice versa. L. Susan Brown claims that "as anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes all relationships of power, it is inherently feminist". Anarcha-feminism is an anti-authoritarian,
… Read more anti-capitalist, anti-oppressive philosophy, with the goal of creating an "equal ground" between the genders. Anarcha-feminism suggests the social freedom and liberty of women without needed dependence upon other groups or parties. Anarcha-feminism began with late 19th and early 20th century authors and theorists such as anarchist feminists Emma Goldman, Voltairine de Cleyre, Milly Witkop, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, and Lucy Parsons. In the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, Mujeres Libres ("Free Women"), linked to the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas.
A symbol of the Women's Movement or radical feminism, consisting of the astronomical and astrological symbol of the planet Venus, also known as a symbol of the Roman goddess Venus, and the clenched fist, a symbol of the 1960's and early 1970's "power" movements.