> the scholastic, monastic, or financial professions
Even in a patriarchy, could it not be that one or more of these professions would be seen in some early societies as "women's work"—i.e. work at first done by women because it was low-status (it was the work that was "left over") and then later because those women became skilled in said work and it became their comparative advantage?
This is, after all, what happened with typing-cum-programming in the 1950s.
Besides which, at least one of the above professions—teaching—is usually heavily connected with childrearing, and thereby usually ends up female-dominated-by-default until large-scale market forces come into play.
Yes, of course, these roles could be viewed as low-status in a patriarchy. And they might have been held by women even in a patriarchy regardless of whether they were considered low-class.
But we should consider the logic and likelihoods here.
Take the monastic/priest role or class. Does it seem more likely this role or class would be considered low-class and hold little power in most ancient civilizations, or that it would hold considerable power? Well, we can reason about this. Consider, based on what we know today, did religion seem to intermingle with government quite frequently in early civilizations? It seems so. Then the monastic/religious class likely held considerable power. Then by definition, in a patriarchy, it is more likely men held these roles more often than women. It sucks, but it stands to reason that it's likely that in most early civilizations, men more frequently held these power roles than women.
Now, consider scholars. Ask: was the ability to write widespread in most early civs? If not, would knowing how to write be a form of power? In a patriarchy, which sex more often holds roles of power? We have an educated guess for scholars, scribes, etc now too.
Follow similar logic for government officials. Would participating in government, and especially being responsible for written records in government likely confer power? It would seem so.
Follow similar logic for finance roles. Were accounts and records important? Likely yes, else why were they meticulously kept in early civilization examples? If they were important, does being an official financial record keeper likely confer some form of power? In a patriarchy, which sex likely has those power roles?
We obviously can't say for sure. But we can reason and apply what knowledge we do have.
Even in a patriarchy, could it not be that one or more of these professions would be seen in some early societies as "women's work"—i.e. work at first done by women because it was low-status (it was the work that was "left over") and then later because those women became skilled in said work and it became their comparative advantage?
This is, after all, what happened with typing-cum-programming in the 1950s.
Besides which, at least one of the above professions—teaching—is usually heavily connected with childrearing, and thereby usually ends up female-dominated-by-default until large-scale market forces come into play.