The paradox of choosing patriarchy in a liberal society

On women's labor, freedom and gender egalitarianism

Working women and the waning of patriarchy

Should gender roles from the time of legal patriarchy be a choice for women in a liberated society? On the one hand, if feminism is about choice, then the choice should be a legitimate one. Indeed, feminism seems mostly about choice from my experience, and you’re not allowed to assign value to the choices lest you be ‘judgmental’ of your fellow woman. The zeitgeist tells me I should be free to do whatever I want, regardless of the consequences to myself and others.¹

On the other side of the question of ‘traditional’ roles lies a discomfort with the women who would want to choose dependence on a man because feminism also valorizes work as the source of female independence. And there is a truth in it because, in patrilocal societies like India, women are controlled through the prohibition of their working outside the home. Punishments for working women are exacted domestically by husbands and in-laws as abuse and externally by the constant threat …