Many anthropologists claim that, although the degree of masculine authority may vary from one group to the next, males have always had more power in human society. Because females biologically bear and nurse children and because men are endowed with more physical strength for hunting and protecting, the masculine role has evolved to function primarily outside the home, involved in transactions that shape and control society at large. Regardless of who produces food, for instance, the person who distributes it creates the obligations and alliances at the core of economic and political power. Women whose role has been to serve their husbands and children inside the home, without pay, have evolved with less power relative to their husbands and little or no power with respect to the outside world. Female labor in the home has become a devalued commodity.
Domestic violence thrives on the inequality of women.
To gain equality, it would seem females collectively need to occupy positions outside the home that give them control over valued resources. And women must have discretionary money to invest, creating obligations and alliances individually. Japanese women continue to hold the purse strings and manage the home with great freedom and automony. Husbands work long hours, turn over their paychecks and are given an allowance to spend. Women lack economic and political equality.