Throughout history, men have achieved superiority and dominance over women in the majority of religious contexts. Few religions and cultures do the opposite and view their women as having superiority and dominance over men. On the one hand, cultures and religions that view men as dominant are patriarchal. On the other hand, cultures and religions that view women as dominant are matriarchal. Every religion and culture impacts the tendency of societies to follow a matriarchal or patriarchal way of life. Hindu and Islamic religions and cultures are two religions that tend to follow a patriarchal lifestyle, with few exceptions. According to US History in Context obtained from the Otto G. Richter Library at the University of Miami, matriarchy is defined as "a political system in which women are the dominant political actors" (US History in Context). Rather, patriarchy is “a social phenomenon in which men have the privilege of dominating women, both visibly and subliminally” (US History in Context). When the two words matriarchy and patriarchy are broken down to their deeper meaning, they give us their literal definition. The word “-Arch” translates to rule, while “matri-” and “patri-” translate to mother and father. When the roots of the words are put together, they translate to rule of the father in patriarchy, or rule of the mother in matriarchy. To begin with, Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Hinduism has no known founder, prophet, or main belief. According to the Idaho State Journal, “Hinduism has many deities. The three main ones are Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer” (Jenkins, “What is Hinduism?”) Hinduism is an ex... middle of paper ... societies only do it because of their cultural views and not their religious opinions. In Islam, mothers are not as important as those in Hinduism. In Hinduism, a mother is highly respected and considered a prestigious person. But Hindu mothers who fail to give their husband a boy will live their life as if they have abandoned their husbands, but Muslim women will not live with this resentment. Another difference between the two religions and cultures is that Muslim women can be as loyal as Hindu women during marriage, but after marriage, the Muslim woman will remarry another man, while Hindu women will not remarry even though her husband died. By noticing the similarities between Hindu and Islamic beliefs, as well as their cultural beliefs, we can observe that both Hindu and Islamic societies view men as superior to women, making the religions and societies patriarchal...