Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, All the Best. In an interview with the New York Times in December 2021, Chilean author Isabella Yende said, quote, I have lived enough to see great changes in the situation of women. Little by little, women are chipping away at the patriarchy. The fact that we have not been able to

replace it yet doesn't mean we have failed. It means that the job is monumental, but it's not impossible.

I believe it will happen, but only if women are educated, informed, connected, and active.

It takes very little for us to lose the rights we have obtained. A

recent example is the Taliban. In a few days, women and girls lost all their rights in Afghanistan,

and the most awful form of patriarchy took over the country. We have to be vigilant. Given the

wrong circumstances, it can happen anywhere, end quote.

Indeed, this is true. It can happen anywhere, and it does happen everywhere. Progress towards

equity, democracy, and egalitarian partnership can be slow and messy and sometimes can

backslide again with women losing rights they had previously won.

According to Allende, the solution is for women and all people who support egalitarian

partnership to become more educated, more informed, more connected, and more active.

So as we undertake this year-long research project to understand the

development of patriarchy all around the world, we're going to adopt Isabella Yende's framework.

First, becoming more educated. Season 3 will follow the model that we used in season 1.

Each week, I will read a book on a different topic in global gender studies,

and I'll discuss it with a guest who has also read,

or in many cases this season, the guest will have written the book that we're discussing.

We'll start with the African continent,

touching down in several different countries to discuss essential topics

in the history of patriarchy and gender

studies. And then the following month, in honor of Black History Month here in the United States,

...