<P> However, in the latter half of the 18th century, clerical sentiments of patriarchy were meeting challenges from intellectual authorities--Diderot's Encyclopedia denies inheritance of paternal authority stating, "...reason shows us that mothers have rights and authority equal to those of fathers; for the obligations imposed on children originate equally from the mother and the father, as both are equally responsible for bringing them into the world . Thus the positive laws of God that relate to the obedience of children join the father and the mother without any differentiation; both possess a kind of ascendancy and jurisdiction over their children ..." </P> <P> In the 19th century, various women began to question the commonly accepted patriarchal interpretation of Christian scripture . One of the foremost of these was Sarah Grimké, who voiced skepticism about the ability of men to translate and interpret passages relating to the roles of the sexes without bias . She proposed alternative translations and interpretations of passages relating to women, and she applied historical and cultural criticism to a number of verses, arguing that their admonitions applied to specific historical situations, and were not to be viewed as universal commands . </P> <P> Elizabeth Cady Stanton used Grimké's criticism of biblical sources to establish a basis for feminist thought . She published The Woman's Bible, which proposed a feminist reading of the Old and New Testament . This tendency was enlarged by feminist theory, which denounced the patriarchal Judeo - Christian tradition . In his essay, A Judicial Patriarchy: Family Law at the Turn of the Century, Michael Grossberg coined the phrase judicial patriarchy stating that, "The judge became the buffer between the family and the state ." and that, "Judicial patriarchs dominated family law because within these institutional and intraclass rivalries judges succeeded in protecting their power over the law governing the hearth . </P> <P> In China's Qing Dynasty, laws governing morality, sexuality, and gender - relations continued to be based on Confucian teachings . Men and women were both subject to strict laws regarding sexual behavior, however men were punished infrequently in comparison to women . Additionally, women's punishment often carried strong social stigma, "rendering (women) unmarriageable," a stigma which did not follow men . Similarly, in the People's Republic of China, laws governing morality which were written as egalitarian were selectively enforced favoring men, permissively allowing female infanticide, while infanticide of any form was, by the letter of the law, prohibited . </P>

How did the rise of civilization lead to the creation of patriarchal systems