A Couple Of Questions About "The Patriarchy"

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I asked a couple of months back for people here to define the patriarchy in detail, and I was dissatisfied with the bulk of the responses, so I'll try asking a couple of different questions.

1) Do you believe that we in the western world live in patriarchal societies, or do you merely believe our societies are non-patriarchal, but consisting of patriarchal elements? What informs your belief here?

2) What would a non-patriarchal society look like in comparison to our societies? Or what would need to change about our societies to rid them of the patriarchy?

This ought to get you started on your search for information:

Everyday Feminism: What Is Patriarchy (And How Does It Hurt Us All)?

I do not believe we live in a patriarchal society. There may be some unfairness towards women in some ways. There may also be unfairness towards men in other ways.
In some cases it is difficult to determine objectively what a perfectly fair solution to a problem would be because of biological differences that cause some rules and laws to automatically affect men and women in different ways (e.g. anything even remotely related to reproduction) and because it is not always easy to tell to what extent inequality of outcome is caused by different wants and priorities or by societal expectations and obstacles or how fair or unfair it is how much or little society values which quality of a person or their accomplishments.
There are definitely people who discriminate against women due to their patriarchal (or misogynistic) beliefs but people who are unfair towards men due to their misandristic beliefs also exist. However, I have no idea how much people of which gender tend to be negatively affected by bias of individual people towards them and they are probably, on average, not affected in the exact same way.

I think it depends what circles you move in. In the UK we have the politicians and the business leaders coming from Eton, Oxford, Cambridge. They like that familiarity. The old boys club. Yes, we have a female Prime Minister, so it's not a total patriarchy.

Scotland has a female First Minister too. So women are getting opportunities here on the UK.

But, how much of the upper echelons are males doing what they've always done to rule the country and keep down 'the great unwashed likes of you and I?

What would a non-patriachal state look like? A place where men and women of all classes get a voice, and not only a voice, but listened to and their needs taken into account, to have laws not revolving around keeping the top businessmen happy and making enormous profits.

[fact=vetted]

Patriarchy is a social construct (and not an outcome of innate differences between the sexes), in which males hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited solely by and through the male lineage of a family.

[/fact]

[opinion=mine]

Q: Do you believe that we in the western world live in patriarchal societies, or do you merely believe our societies are non-patriarchal, but consisting of patriarchal elements?
A: Either or both, depending on the specific culture, community, or family involved

Q: What informs your belief here?
A: Personal experience and observation.

Q: What would a non-patriarchal society look like in comparison to our societies?
A: Fully democratic and egalitarian.

Q: Or what would need to change about our societies to rid them of the patriarchy?
A: Abolition of the professional sports industry, the pornography industry, and the tax-exempt status of all religious institutions.

[/opinion]