Smashing the patriarchy to address gender health inequities: Past, present and future perspectives from Aotearoa (New Zealand)

ABSTRACT

The second wave feminist dream of smashing the patriarchy remains a task yet to be completed on a complex to do list. Women, particularly able-bodied cis-gendered white women however do enjoy the privilege of living longer than men. But our longer lives take place within patriarchal-capitalist systems where many women’s social and cultural rights continue to be compromised. How do we ensure that all women can exercise our right to health and wellbeing? In this paper, the authors examine, critique, review and re-vision the dynamics of power and patriarchy over three distinct time periods – 1999, 2019 and 2039. We look to the past to track progress; we look to the present to see what we have achieved and look to the future for what might be. This conceptual paper is informed by the authors’ expert knowledge, a review of the literature and the novel use of speculative ethnography. The authors conclude that patriarchy remains not only a negative determinant of women’s health that needs to be smashed, but is also a threat to all people and to planetary health.

KEYWORDS:

• Patriarchy
• health inequities
• women’s health
• ethnography
• feminism

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge those respondents who contributed to the Twitter Hivemind exercise and all the wonderful research, thinking and action taken over decades (that we have not been able to reference and talk about in this article) to improve the lives of women and create more inclusive, healthier and more sustainable societies. The authors AM, HC and JK have contributed equally to all aspects of the article including conceptualisation, methodology, results and discussion as well as writing, review and editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).