@bernie12 Men never had the right not to work (does obligation automatically equal privilege?). In the “patriarchy”, women had low authority/power but was balanced by low responsibility/accountability (e.g. husband being responsible for his wife’s actions–if a man gets abused by his wife, it’s his fault; if she spends all his money in one night, he gets held accountable) while men had high authority/power balanced by high responsibility/accountability. Strict division of gender roles and labor.
It’s one of the reasons 80% of women in Saudi Arabia was in support of not being able to drive–because while they had less rights and less power than men, they also had less responsibility. Men work (not very fun jobs) and then give their money to their wives after they come home. But, as usual, it’s always the “women are oppressed, men screw over women” when it comes to the Middle East. Funny how that works: the “oppressors” would hand over their money to the “oppressed” and let the “oppressed” manage the money.