I would like to live long enough to see if the patriarchal hierarchy was an arbitrary tradition or is based on an understanding of social dynamics that we don't understand anymore.
I think we who study science understand it.
It's biological.
The males of almost every species of vertebrate are the food gatherers, the nest-builders, the "providers"...the larger, wiser, and stronger thrived, the weaker/smaller struggled. The female of nearly all vertebrates are the nest maintainer, the birther, the child-nourisher. Notable exceptions are the Seahorse.
@Robecology Time will tell if that's all there is to it!