Reverse Dominance Coalitions

Inequalities persist if they are normalised and culturally celebrated, while critics are shamed, disparaged and ostracised. Culture only changes when masses of people speak out in solidarity, embolden each other with righteous resistance, and collectively establish expectations of equality. I call these “Reverse Dominance Coalitions”.

This Substack is split into 3 parts:

• A Global Culture of Patriarchy

• ‘Reverse Dominance Coalitions’ (RDCs)

• How RDCs Can Foster Gender Equality

A Global Culture of Patriarchy

Throughout history, there have always been some ‘brilliant women’. But in patriarchal societies, they are often silenced, secluded and distrusted.

Puritan leaders were determined to suppress women and assert their mastery. Disruptive women were exiled from Massachusetts Bay. When Mary Oliver reproached church elders she was whipped and a cleft stick was put on her tongue. State papers perpetuated rumours that disobedient women gave birth to “monsters”. In Enlightenment France, female scientists were rejected with contempt. In Tlacolula (Oaxaca), indigenous women used to be seen - according to my interviewees - as ‘worthless servants’. Tswana women were likewise ‘minors’, under male authority, excluded from political assemblies.

Fast-forward to 21st century Russia: feminists are stigmatised as aggressive, man-hating ‘extremists’. In some Andean villages, men try to monopolise community meetings by scolding women into silence. In Chicago, violent bullies try to gaslight their girlfriends, calling them crazy, ‘careless’, and ‘hysterical’. Victim-blaming is even more pervasive in authoritarian China, where feminist dissent is totally suppressed.

Even if women earn money, this does not necessarily undermine a wider culture of patriarchy. Higher-earning women may do even more housework to placate male egos.

What enables cultural change?

Reverse Dominance Coalitions

‘Reverse dominance coalitions’ (RDCs) are a powerful mechanism of egalitarianism. Foragers mocked, ridiculed, bullied, and berated self-aggrandising ‘upstarts’ who sought to accumulate resources, sarcastically calling them ‘Big Chief’. In the Kalahari, the one influential !Kung San explained,

When a young man kills much meat, he comes to think of himself as a chief or a big man, and he thinks of the rest of us as his servants or inferiors. We can’t accept this. We refuse one who boasts, for someday his pride will make him kill somebody. So we always speak of his meat as worthless. In this way we cool his heart and make him gentle.

If the upstart does not relent, he may be punished with ostracism or even death.

RDCs are a universal driver of liberty, democracy and equality. Back in the 1970s, Korean workers forged class consciousness and fought for their rights. In Latin America more recently, marginalised people have mobilised en masse and politicised inequalities.

Minor point on terminology. Anthropologists like Christopher Boehm have always called these ‘reverse dominance hierarchies’. Daron Acemoglu helpfully suggested that we call them ‘coalitions’. I agree.

RDCs cover a wide range of practices. They can be created at any scale, in any social situation (e.g. weddings, workplaces, night clubs, barbecues and political protests). They may include men - acting as ‘bystanders’, publicly challenging sexism. RDCs also challenge anyone who perpetrates a culture - which includes women (e.g. nuns who ran Magdalene Laundries and abusive mothers-in-law).

How Reverse Dominance Coalitions Foster Gender Equality

RDCs can

• Nurture critical reflection, causing people to question inequalities;

• Reinforce righteous resistance

• Build sorority and protect dissenters from bullying

• Show wider support for equality and overcome despondency traps

• Shift expectations that sexism will not be tolerated.

Let me start by sharing a couple of protest chants.

One 2023 Tiktok sensation is ‘Azul Mineral’ by Lau Crespa. On 8th March this year, Latin American feminists marched in droves. Resistance reverberated on social media, set to this anthem.

“We gather below and today we are..

You don't know what fear is if you didn't have to be born a woman

Like a horror story that you always have to read

Ask your sister, your mother, your daughter and you will get goosebumps

7000 years silent, raped and murdered for your pleasure

You don't know what fear is if you didn't have to be born a woman”.

“A Rapist in Your Path” (a 2019 Chilean protest song) went even more viral and has since been performed in multiple languages. Banding together in unison, thousands of women publicly delegitimise rape myths. This helps dismantle shame and stigma, which trap victims in silence, enabling impunity for abuse.

Mexican and Spanish women who’ve attended massive demonstrations tell me that they feel empowered by the sorority. Seeing thousands of women marching, they are even more emboldened to resist.

The vast majority of people do not actually protest. But they may nonetheless publicly decry inequalities. These too are ‘reverse dominance coalitions’. Let me share some examples from my qualitative research in the US, Mexico, Zambia, Cambodia, and Spain.

Gender gaps in US housework

Gender gaps in housework persist partly because a woman is alone, without any allies and reluctant to rock the boat. Seldom seeing men share care work, she may also take inequalities for granted or doubt the possibility of change.

Maggie (a married, working mother of two in small-town Alabama) could count on one hand the number of times her husband had cooked. One evening, however, they all watched “Wife Swap”. Her two teenage daughters shouted at the screen, appalled by the men treating their wives like servants. Her husband said nothing, but he was clearly deeply affected. He started cooking meals, bringing take-out, and washing the dishes. Maggie didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t want to congratulate him as she didn’t want to imply it was a mighty achievement. Rather, he was finally doing his share. Diplomatically, she phrased it thus, “I’m so happy about this dynamic, where everyone is contributing, I’m really happy”.

Maggie had always wanted housework to be shared, but that only changed with a Reverse Dominance Coalition.

Gender-based violence in Mexico

Stephie is 52, she sells snacks in a small kiosk. She grew up in rural patriarchy and remained in that culture, until a friend helped her escape.

It only takes two to form an RDC.

“My dad almost never let my mum out… It wasn’t common to see a woman alone..

My dad was in the army. He was very strict. He wanted things to be done this way... “Not like that! Don’t make noise! Silence!” He would get angry without cause…

I didn’t think it was wrong because my parents had instilled it in me.

While married, I was very limited. I had no shoes. I had no underwear… I got sick often.

I had a friend. I told her, “My husband scolds me, mistreats me psychologically” and she said “No, you should not allow that”. So I started talking to her. I started telling her about my life. It was already taking me out, puling me out of the hole.

There was an ideology that from the time we get married until we die, there’s just one person. But we aren’t realising that we are being mistreated. We have to free ourselves. I didn’t realise it until I met my friend. She was the one who made me realise I was being psychologically abused.

With the guidance of my friend, I was freed.. I no longer feel repressed by anyone.

Mexico is waking up, women are trying to live their lives.

(translated).

“Women can do what men can do” in Zambia and Cambodia

“Banamayo kuti babomba incito sha baume” (women can do what men can do) is a popular slogan of gender equality on the Zambian Copperbelt. Back in the 1960s and 70s, men were revered as breadwinners while women were often denigrated as incompetent. “Kuti atomba umushi” they said. This meant that if a woman led a village, she might destroy it.

Likewise in Cambodian villages, women were often stereotyped as less knowledgeable. “Women are short-legged, they can only move around the kitchen”. Even if Cambodian women earn money in rural factories, they are still caught in this wider culture of patriarchy in which men are revered as knowledgeable authorities.

But in Zambian and Cambodian cities, people are increasingly recognising women’s equal competence in socially valued domains and saying so publicly. In ChiSokone market they insist, “For the elections, we want women!”. Old ideas about men’s natural superiority are being stamped out.

Resisting Machismo

Valentina has written and directed several films, but she is still presumed incompetent. Her creative authority is continually challenged by junior colleagues (both male and female). Producers return her scripts with an abundance of unsolicited advice. Time and again, she is questioned.

Female programmers in Silicon Valley expressed similar frustrations. Their codes are doubted and double-checked, while men’s sail through. This fits a broader trend. Male-dominated sectors are systematically sexist. Where men can achieve their goals without RDCs’ approval, their dominance remains unchecked.

It’s hard to go against the grain when you’re all alone. A solitary dissenter may be hounded as ‘hysterical’, ‘over-reacting’, and ‘unable to take a joke’. Bullying deters wider resistance. Others realise they have a choice: endure or exit. In Norway and North America, male-majority workplaces haemorrhage female talent. This fact alone explains STEM’s exceptionally leaky pipeline.

But in Catalonia (where feminism is a common topic of conversation), young women are publicly decrying inequalities. Men see this and moderate their behaviour. ‘Sexist jokes are not okay, there is a line’ - insisted Carlos (a 45 year old scientist). Santiago (who’s just finished school) shared examples of his friends resisting machismo:

1. After being jilted, one guy said women are whores (puta). She replied “No, a woman may decide who they wish to go out with”.

2. Groups of guys can get rowdy, especially when drinking and watching football. Santiago’s female friends complained, they wanted to leave. He learnt that aggression made them uncomfortable and thereafter he became more sensitive.

3. Gender parity is mandated by their school. Each class votes on a male and a female representative. Some guys grumbled, but the girls insisted that they are 50% of the class they should equally represented.

4. “Boys are better at maths and science” said some of their classmates, with great confidence. The girls replied, “Well, who scored the best in the year? Girls”. Together, they are publicly over-turning myths about presumed incompetence.

5. Kissing on the cheek is a traditional Spanish greeting. Santiago’s female friends, however, find this too intrusive. They prefer to shake hands with strangers. By speaking out and supporting each other, young Catalonians are creating a public sphere in which women feel more comfortable.

Spain’s Reverse Dominance Coalitions (in conversations, street protests and municipal councils) are publicly contesting taken-for-granted inequalities.

And if men (as fathers, friends, employers or politicians) want RDCs’ approval, they need to play by their rules. Obviously, not all relationships are so crudely self-interested. Empathy and care may also motivate greater sensitivity (e.g. Maggie’s husband and Santiago).

This year, the Spanish government held an emergency meeting about rising femicides. People are protesting in droves, alarmed by the scourge of violence and demanding state action. Femicides also occur across Europe. But - in the absence of powerful Reverse Dominance Coalitions - this violence rarely makes headlines.

Reverse Dominance Coalitions also benefit men, by loosening cultural straitjackets. Previous generations of men acted macho to get respect (or else be mocked as sissies). That is no longer the case - explained Diego (a small-town municipal worker). The overwhelming majority of Spanish fathers now take paternity leave.

Thousands march for International Women’s Day in Spain, Euronews

TLDR:

Patriarchal cultures persist in a feedback loop. Dissenters are shamed, so others quietly comply to maintain social acceptance.

But Reverse Dominance Coalitions are rocking the boat. In cafes and city streets from Alabama to Puebla, Barcelona to Phnom Penh, RDCs are rejecting machismo, calling out mansplaining, and building sorority. Dissenters are not only protected but emboldened. Wider solidarity and defiance enable RDCs to establish new, egalitarian expectations. Others increasingly comply, for fear of being publicly lambasted and ostracised. This can nurture greater equality.