Men tend to be more frequently assigned to formal positions of power and authority in society, creating what we might call a gender hierarchy. Though women have held formal positions of power across cultures and tend to wield power in more subtle ways than men, it is still indisputable that, viewed as a whole, women have been restricted from roles of formal power in most societies.
Why are women’s roles considered subordinate to, and often inferior to, those of men in many societies? For example, have you noticed that when a girl is told she plays “like a boy” it’s an empowering compliment, but when a boy is told he “plays like a girl,” it’s a put-down? In those societies, men seem to be the standard against which women are judged. In other words, masculinity is held up as the basic model from which femininity is a deviation.
Why is this so? Why are masculine traits in our society more valued than feminine traits? Why is being a female “tomboy” considered admirable, whereas a male “sissy” is subject to taunting and cruelty? Of course, finding a satisfactory answer to such a complex question, one that will explain every society throughout all of history, is unlikely. Nevertheless, let us briefly examine a few of the many theories that try to get at the basic reasons societies might value traits they see as male over traits they see as female.