Androcentrism: what is it and how does it affect women?

This historical and social phenomenon places men at the center of everything, as the main reference.

Androcentrism is the tendency to place the male experience at the center of explanations about the world and individuals in a generalized way. of explanations about the world and about individuals in a generalized manner. It is a practice that often goes unnoticed and through which men's perspective is assumed as the universal view, and even the only valid or possible one.

This has been a very present tendency in the development of western societies, likewise it has been questioned in an important way by different people, with which, it is worth reviewing what is androcentrism and where it has been more present.

The philosophy of who we put at the center.

One thing that contemporary philosophies and sciences have taught us is that there are many ways of looking at and explaining the world. When we perceive and interpret what surrounds us, and even ourselves, we do so based on a given framework of knowledge, we do so on the basis of a particular framework of knowledge..

This framework of knowledge has been constructed throughout our history and largely through the stories we have heard about ourselves and others. In other words, the knowledge we have acquired has to do with the different perspectives that have been placed, or not, at the center of that knowledge.

Thus, for example, when we speak of anthropocentrism, we are referring to the philosophical tendency and conception that human being at the center of knowledge about the world.This issue formally began with the modern era, and replaced theocentrism (the explanations that placed God at the center). Or, if we speak of "Eurocentrism" we refer to the tendency to look at and construct the world as if we were all Europeans (experience is generalized).

These "centrisms" (the tendency to place a single experience at the center and use it to explain and understand all other experiences) include both everyday and specialized knowledge. As they are at the base of our knowledge and practices in both fields, they easily go unnoticed.

What is androcentrism?

Returning to the previous paragraph, we can see that "androcentrism" is a concept that refers to the tendency to explain the phenomena of the world based on the generalized experience of a single subject: man. This phenomenon consists of to incorporate into scientific, historical, academic and everyday narratives, the male experience at the center (hence "andro", meaning male gender; and "centrism": at the center). (hence "andro", meaning male gender; and "centrism": in the center).

Consequently, all other ways of knowing and experiencing the world are incorporated into such narratives only peripherally, or not at all. This applies to many fields. We can analyze, for example, androcentrism in science, androcentrism in history, in medicine, in education, in sports, and many others.

It is a phenomenon that has emerged largely as a result of the fact that in our societies, it is men who have been the main occupants of the world, men are the ones who have occupied the majority of public spaces, and it is fundamentally in the public sphere.It is fundamentally in the public sphere where the practices and discourses that allow us to know the world in one way or another have been developed.

Such practices are, for example, science, history, sports, religion, and so on. In other words, the world has been constructed and perceived fundamentally by men, so it is their experiences that have been historically extensive: much of how we see the world and how we relate to it, is made from their perspective, interests, knowledge, and general readings of all that compose it (i.e., from their worldview).

Where can we see it?

The above is finally related and visible in the most everyday things, in the norms that tell us how to relate, how to behave, how to feel, and even in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves.

This means that, far from being a phenomenon that is located and caused specifically by the male gender, it is a process that we have all incorporated as a part of our daily lives. part of the same history and the same society. The main consequence has been that the experience of women and of those who do not identify with the hegemonic model of "male" has been hidden and made invisible, and therefore difficult to incorporate on equal terms.

For the same reason there have been several people (mainly women) who have wondered, for example, where have the women who did science been? Where have the women who did science been? Why are we practically only taught the biographies of men? And the women who made history? Where are the stories of women who have lived through wars or revolutions? In fact, who have finally gone down in history? Under what models or imaginaries?

The latter has led to an increasing recovery, and in different fields, the heterogeneity of the experiences we share in the world.This also generates different ways of relating to, perceiving and interpreting our surroundings and ourselves.

Bibliographical references:

• Falcó, R. (2003). La arqueología del género: Espacios de mujeres, mujeres con espacio. Center for Women's Studies: Universitat d'Alacant.