A Critique of the Notion of Patriarchy in Feminism Using Metz’s Relational Ethics.

Résumé

Abstract

Within the intellectual ambience of feminism is the notion that the human world is patriarchal. Hence, feminism is a movement aimed at dethroning patriarchy, which seems to favour men over women. This entails that for feminists, the world is lopsided. Therefore, there is a need to reorder the system for women to be fully integrated into society and share equal privileges and rights as men. We disagree that this feminist patriarchal view of the world is correct. Thus, in this paper, we argue that Metz’s conception of harmony can assist us in understanding that the argument by the feminists that there is a conflict between genders is not real but imagined. Metz’s relational ethics, which is built on the sub-Saharan African notion of ‘relationship’, asserts that humans [irrespective of their gender] can affirm their identity and live in solidarity if and only if they operate with the principle of communion. This ethical theory upsets the feminist’s thought that the world is patriarchal. Instead, it shows that identity distinction between the male and female genders leads to solidarity in human society.