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Fulfilling Feminism's Promises in the Twenty-first Century
© 2009 by Robert L. Waring, all rights reserved.
Proposal:
Three billion people – half the world’s population – suffer from extreme poverty. Many experts believe the risks of widespread destruction from terrorism, warfare and environmental recklessness have never been higher. Bad news is so endemic that we tend to think it inevitable – but collectively, we all make choices about how the world works. With one better choice, we could make our world more peaceful and prosperous.
That choice is matrocracy (rhymes with "democracy"), a political system in which women and men truly share leadership and decision making. As the book Matrocracy documents, women are on average more empathetic and less violent than men. With substantially greater female influence, governments likely would become more compassionate and less militaristic, allocating additional resources to reduce suffering and the risk of humanity’s annihilation. As 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said, women "have a longer vision."
Matrocracy uses sociobiology to show that patriarchy is but one possible method of social organization. Matrocracy imagines a better world in which women have as much say as men in shaping social, political and economic institutions. With greater power, women’s priorities would enrich social values and shift the tipping points of many public policy issues. Matrocracy offers concrete steps to move society closer to democracy’s full potential.
Recent remarks about women’s professional competitiveness by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers refueled the debate about gender differences raised by such books as Carol Gilligan’s In a Different Voice (Harvard Univ. Press 1982). Although some steadfastly deny that gender differences exist, a stream of new discoveries adds to broad scientific consensus about the existence of innate differences in behaviors and aptitudes. The success of the new bestseller on gender differences, The Female Brain (Random House 2006), demonstrates there is exceptional demand for more information on this topic.
Conventional feminist doctrine remains entrenched in the mistaken belief that inherent gender sameness has been corrupted by patriarchy. Matrocracy turns that notion on its head and argues that patriarchy’s often destructive agenda has been fostered by culturally imposed sameness in men and women’s beliefs and behavior. Rather than being an impediment to social progress, recognition of inherent gender differences is the key to finding solutions to some of humanity’s most difficult problems. In differences we also find explanations for and methods of overcoming some of the obstacles to women’s progress in attaining more leadership roles in government and business.
Today’s headlines feed the thirst for more information about how women will lead. Writing about the 2006 midterm election, N.Y. Times Columnist Maureen Dowd described the "longing for a more maternal approach to the globe." For the first time in history, a female Speaker of the House is two heartbeats away from the Oval Office. A woman was the runner up in the contest to be the Democratic candidate for President in 2008, and another was the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Women are leading nations in every corner of the globe. On the crest of this wave are Bangladesh, Chile, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Liberia, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway and South Korea.
To imagine the differences matrocracy could make, picture yourself in a boat on a tropical river. On the north bank lives a patriarchal culture. Its male members vie for power by murdering each other and the male offspring of rivals. On the south side, by contrast, females hold the power in a matriarchal culture where murder is unknown. One need only travel to the Congo River in Africa to see these paradigmatic differences between humans’ nearest relations: chimpanzees and their closely related cousins, bonobos. A seemingly arbitrary variance in social structure profoundly affects the lives of these two apes. Matrocracy draws on recent discoveries in sociobiology, anthropology and psychology to examine the striking difference gender makes in creating social reality for both apes and humans.
Other writers have explored women’s further potential to change the world, but Matrocracy is the first book that deals with the earthshattering and counterintuitive finding in a 2008 study that cultural changes wrought by progressive societies are actually exacerbating some advantages men have in attaining power and wealth. That the feminist author is a man brings yet another fresh perspective. Because it contains numerous examples of how increasing women’s political power would benefit both women and men, this may be the first book about feminism that both genders will find accessible and compelling.
Outline:
The preface recounts the author’s personal journey – inspired by progressive visionary Charles Reich, primatologist Frans de Waal and his suffragist grandmother – that led him to imagine matrocracy. The first chapter, entitled Matrocracy: Next-Generation Democracy?, shows what is at stake: real risks to human survival exacerbated by the violence, hierarchies and religious oppression men use to maintain their dominance. The system is broken, and the most effective way to change policies is to change the people in charge. That said, the book explodes the notion that there is a set percentage of women that will be a "critical mass" for change. The percentage is highly situational, a fact reflected in book’s recommendations for how to attain matrocracy.
Chapter Two, The Bonobo Code: Lessons from Our Cousins, paints a picture of the possibilities if we adopt matrocracy and the perils if we do not. The narrative takes readers on a tour of the dramatically different ape societies on opposite sides of the Congo River. Comparing peaceful bonobos with their better known and war-prone cousins, chimpanzees, Matrocracy describes theories of how and why bonobo culture evolved to be a matriarchal, relatively non-violent society in which harmony is a common objective and sex is the social glue. The discussion of bonobo society constructs one framework for Matrocracy’s predictions of how greater power for women might alter human culture.
The Patriarchy Tax, Chapter Three, reviews the social costs of gender inequality. Many women in the U.S. face harsh conflicts between career and motherhood. We’re losing the full benefit of women’s talents in both arenas. Violence by men against women takes an enormous toll. In the U.S. alone, estimates of annual costs affecting the labor force, child well-being, housing, social services, health care, and the criminal justice system exceed seventy billion dollars a year. The costs of wars we’re fighting or preparing to fight are greater than at any time in history.
In Chapters Four and Five, Better Together: Life in a Gender-Balanced World and Public Policies & Business Practices in a Gender-Balanced World, readers witness the power of matrocracy in action. Matrocracy would not be a gender-reversed mirror image of patriarchy, but instead a society where women have social and political power equal to that of men and are enabled to wield it differently. Equalization of power would benefit both men and women.
Business productivity would grow as more women entered managerial positions and utilized more cooperative rather than authoritarian management techniques. With women’s greater influence, resolution of global, local and personal conflicts could become opportunities to nonviolently create gains for all sides. The "family values" of matrocracy would assign greater economic value to nurturing families, and women in power positions would bring the pragmatism necessary to better utilize society’s resources to help more needy families. Freed of male dictates, more women might become "sex-positive," pursuing sexual satisfaction on their own terms. As the book explains, this change would lead to greater fulfillment for both genders. Matrocracy’s predictions encourage male and female readers to work together to make the necessary social and political changes for matrocracy to emerge.
Chapter Six, Roadblocks to Matrocracy, sheds light on some of the reasons we remain mostly mired in the status quo. It surveys obstacles that are delaying women’s attainment of more social and political power in the U.S. and other developed nations, including the counterintuitive finding that progressive social changes in some ways are benefiting men more than women. It also highlights unique challenges in developing nations. Chapter Seven, The Need for Speed, distills concepts in the prior chapters to resolve the central questions raised by the book: why should we accelerate women’s acquisition of power, and if we do not, what are we risking? One conclusion is that the slower we go, the more likely it is that women’s unique approaches to resolving conflict, their desire for social justice and their emerging leadership styles will fall victim to the power of patriarchal assimilation.
Getting to Matrocracy Now, the concluding chapter, offers many specific suggestions for accelerating women’s attainment of greater power. Of particular note is a multi-faceted advertising campaign modeled after the successes of anti-littering and anti-smoking ads and designed to speed up changes in social attitudes. In light of the fact that it is unclear what percentage of women in positions of power would create the critical mass needed for change, and that women are not taking full advantage of egalitarian changes to take power in social and political institutions, Matrocracy urges the establishment of a nationwide mentoring program for all girls and women and graduate level leadership academies for women. If those changes are implemented, a unique gender quota system in legislatures could further aid women’s advancement and be enacted by a single ballot initiative in many states.
Marketing
There are several markets for this book:
- Progressive readers dissatisfied with the state of the nation and the world who desire new social values, such as increasing diversity, investing more resources to create a better future and encouraging nonviolent conflict resolution. Readers aspiring to these values will want to read Matrocracy, give it to friends and family, and discuss it with their children.
- Readers interested in feminism, both those in support and in opposition. Those who own books by other feminist authors will want to add Matrocracy to their collection, in part because it offers a fresh perspective from a man. Opponents of feminism will find self-interested reasons to rethink their views. Both groups will find their previous views upended by Matrocracy’s discussion of the 2008 study showing that men are being helped more by progressive social changes than are women.
- University political science and women’s studies classes. Matrocracy’s fresh approach to key policy debates makes it well-suited for in-depth study and classroom discussion.
- Women who experienced the first wave of workplace feminism and have grappled with both the opportunities opened and the price paid by the emerging societal pressure to "do it all" in a man's world.
- Young women considering the strengths they can bring to their individual futures and our collective well-being – on their own terms.
- Parents who hope to gain insight that will help them to raise sons and daughters who flourish and nurture each other into a peaceful and prosperous future.
The promotional plan includes:
- Targeted press releases to national and local women’s organizations, policy groups, political and business decision makers, book clubs and media outlets.
- Magazine articles based on the book (currently ready to be submitted for publication).
- Media tour. An accomplished public speaker, debater and media spokesperson, the author is available for print, radio, television, and speaking tours.
- Matrocracy.com, an informational website that promotes the book, provides updates about matrocracy and will offer connections to the matrocracy community such as a monthly newsletter, message boards and the like.
Books related to the themes in Matrocracy mostly fall into three categories. Books with a scientific perspective that document differences in male and female propensities include the bestseller, The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine (Random House 2006). Other titles in this group include The Essential Difference by Simon Baron-Cohen (Perseus Publishing 2003), The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker (Viking Press 2002), and Demonic Males by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson (Houghton Mifflin Co. 1996). Some feminist writers fear that granting legitimacy to innate differences will perpetuate discrimination. Examples are Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers’s Same Difference (Basic Books 2004) and Carol Tavris’ The Mismeasure of Woman (Simon & Schuster 1992). (Barnett and Rivers employ a number of false or misleading assertions and references; Matrocracy sets the record straight.)
Other feminists welcome the highlighting of gender differences and argue that both biology and culture give women talents that ideally suit them for key leadership roles. Examples include Dee Dee Myers' Why Women Should Rule the World (Harper 2008), Marie Wilson’s Closing the Leadership Gap (Viking Press 2004), Helen Fisher’s The First Sex (Ballantine Books 2000), and Sally Helgesen’s The Female Advantage (Currency Doubleday 1995). Matrocracy stands out from this group in part because its author is male. Unlike Fisher and Helgesen’s books, it offers a strong political vantage point derived from the author’s political and policy experience. Unlike Wilson’s book it includes the perspective of scientific behavioral research, and it updates, corrects and expands the limited references to such research in Myers’ book.
A crucial difference between Matrocracy and other books in this genre is its scope. It uses the latest findings in sociobiology and cross cultural psychology to transform readers’ basic assumptions about gender, and connects this new understanding to real world problems and concrete policy proposals.
About the Author
I reached adulthood at the dawn of the modern women’s liberation movement, and vividly recall the place women had in society prior to that revolution. I studied public policy at Princeton University and spent six years as a legislative strategist for California’s judiciary. I saw first-hand the different policy priorities of female legislators and how they work with each other and with their male colleagues. Through working with hundreds of judges, I observed how women handle power, and how that difference affects those who are subjected to the judgment of the courts.
As an adjunct law professor, I saw how many young women now take their rights and freedoms for granted. They rarely experience the overt discrimination their mothers faced, yet their access to positions of power remains limited. A whole new generation is ripe for reinventing the political power of feminism.
As an attorney representing children in foster care, I understand the impact of short-sighted and misguided social policies on parents and their children. I have seen women at their worst when they have utterly failed in their responsibilities as mothers. I also have seen women at their best in the dedication of the mostly female attorneys and social workers with whom I work and in the mothers who beat the odds of a system often stacked against them.
Finally, as a passionate, humanist scholar, I’ve spent years researching, writing and talking about this topic. I developed Matrocracy as the urgent solution to the dysfunction that historically has burdened our society and now is mutating with breathtaking virulence and speed.
Conclusion
Matrocracy attacks critical problems facing humanity from a perspective that will provoke controversy and discussion. The book combines the passion of revolutionary thinking with the strategic viewpoint of a policy analyst. Seeking to accelerate the multi-millennial struggle for gender equality, Matrocracy prescribes practical, immediate tactics that could put humanity on a different path in the twenty-first century. Whether male or female, readers will be eager to explore the roadmap to gender-enlightened democracy that could dramatically better the world in our lifetime.
