The New Eve - Lewis Robert [79]
The trustee family is patriarchal in structure, with men enjoying wide-ranging power over women and children. That power, however, is not arbitrary but is an expression of the will of a larger clan to which the family belongs. Men don't simply make the rules up as they go. They must follow the accepted practices and values of clan life, and this includes protections for the rights and well-being of women and children. Nevertheless, the dominant male is permitted to lead by strength or even physical aggression when members stray from the distinct roles given them.
Societies embrace the trustee model early in their life cycle because it's necessitated by their underdeveloped context. Conditions are difficult at this stage of society. In order for a family to eat and live in security, each family member has to give selflessly to the team effort. Resources must be hunted, farmed, or mined from the land. All of this requires a no-nonsense approach to life that is pragmatic and productive. Children are seen as an asset—there's plenty they can do in the fields and around the house to help move the family forward. Women play the vital roles of feeding and clothing the family, working in and around the home, as well as adding new members through childbirth. Men, with their strong backs and aggressive bent, work to provide for the family's needs, as well as man the battle lines.
In these conditions there's no time for philosophizing on the larger questions of how gender equality and children's rights might play themselves out in a fully equitable society. Nor is society advanced enough to put forth a strong governing body that can craft and enforce these kinds of civil laws. Thus, clans enforce their own laws for behavior. Tribal rule prevails. However, as the trustee model gradually succeeds in helping society tame the land, develop technologies, and grow in numbers, a more advanced and equitable model of the family appears.
The Domestic Family
In this family type a husband and wife come together to form a new, more autonomous unity. Both partners retain significant links to the larger clan, but their lifestyle decisions are no longer dictated by its rules and values. No more family councils. No more decisions handed down from the clan hierarchy. Individual families rule themselves, guided by the strong religious and family-centric values that predominate during this phase of society. This is the pro-family era of civilization.
Personal freedoms begin to emerge among family members. Roles are still important and well defined for each member in the family, but they're more flexible than was the case in the trustee model. Family unity is still a value freely embraced, but it is no longer a law to be enforced. In all but aberrant cases, every family member is highly valued. Neither gender nor age can diminish one's worth. Even still, there remains a noteworthy division of labor along gender lines, with women seeing to the needs of the home and men focusing outward. But there's also a new sharing of domestic and workplace responsibilities that was not seen in the trustee model. This is not only the result of a shift from subsistence living to a more comfortable lifestyle filled with conveniences and free time; it also reflects new values. For instance, women and children have more legal and personal rights under this model.
The husband is still the head of the household, but in a way that is now more benevolent than authoritarian. Laws and social expectations increasingly discourage