We need a return of patriarchy in a deep sense

BRW's Melbourne reporter Kath Walters reconsiders Thomas Moore's discussion of patriarchy in her post "Kisses for Daddy" when she writes:

"Just 39 pages into re-reading one of my very favourite books, Care of the Soul (I’ll deal with the contentious word 'soul' shortly) by one of my very favourite authors, Thomas Moore, my eyes rested on the following: 'Culturally we are also suffering from a breakdown of patriarchy.' [My jaw drops and I snigger 'bring it on' under my breath, before reading more ...] 'Feminist thought properly criticises the oppression of women on the part of long-standing male domination but that political patriarchy is not the patriarchy of the soul. Patri-archy means absolute, profound, archetypal fatherhood. We need a return of patriarchy in this deepest sense, because to vacillate between embracing symptomatic and oppressing fathering on the one side and criticising it on the other gets us nowhere.'

I was left staring into space with brain cogs whirring.

This idea rings very true to me: We are getting nowhere or at least nowhere near fast enough. The corporate world is a vivid illustration with its glacial movement towards appointing women to boards and senior executive roles.

In his complex, rich and non-religious idea of the 'soul', Moore is arguing that society has a need to find its own internal sense of authority and purpose – its collective father – and that is something we appear to have lost."

She suggests that men and women strive for functional patriarchy to fulfill shared purpose and meaning.