Men are dispensable?

My friend told me today of a discussion he had in class on Aristotle's views in life. In class, they had interpreted a passage of Aristotle to mean that the philosopher justified a patriarchal society because men were more dispensable. In short, men could go off to war or die fighting in political discussions, but women were incredibly necessary to stay at home and bear children.

Not only did I not fully understand my friends argument (men can die and thus we give them more power? What?) but it struck me to the very core to think that anyone would try to defend a patriarchal society in this modern day and age. Aristotle, as it seems to me, was mostly interested in sticking to the status quo and explaining things already in existence. For instance, he defended slavery since he said some people were "naturally" born to be slaves. In this, I suppose women are "naturally" born to be second class citizens, mistreated and with no political power of their own.

Not only is a "dispensable" argument patently false, I see no good argument for the formation of a patriarchal society at all. If women are more necessary for the raising of children, they should be the one's in charge to ensure the future of their society. Men, with their wars, would only hinder this self-preservationist goal. Beyond that though, women should never have ceded any power in the first place. Many women make equal or better political leaders than men. Look at Golda Meir, or Queen Elizabeth. No man could have filled those roles. Within the household as well, women are often better leaders than men.

With all the arguments against patriarchy, there is no reason in this modern era to allow it to persist any further. Within our day to day lives, we must ensure to publicly and privately support a society based on gender equality for our children. (Do I sound like a woman when I talk about children? Oh well.)