How is the idea of Patriarchs and Patriarchy presented in Regeneration

In Regeneration, a very negative view is placed on stereotypical ideas of patriarchs and patriarchy. We are shown how men who do not fit the stereotypical idea of a patriarch, can be just as masculine and brave in their own way. For instance, the patriarchs in Regeneration which do not fit into their role are Rivers, Prior, Sassoon. They are all in charge of a group of people in some way, but are not regarded as the most masculine. In regeneration, a person's class plays a large role in whether they are regarded as a patriarch and how respected they are, the one exception is Prior, who comes from a working class, but who's father is of a lower class, and yet he is an officer.Barker may of chosen these 3 characters as the protagonist to outline how Patriarchs should be regarded as, as these men don't only govern their decisions with vengeance as the government do, instead they have morals and can empathise with the men fighting the war and the people in their society. Barker chooses not to represent the government throughout regeneration with a single figure, instead of with a mass of invisible faces labelled as one, to outline how controlling a patriarchal society is, as we cannot make out where they are to stand up to them, so society is helpless and outnumbered, and are forced to obey the laws created by those patriarchs. In regeneration, the idea that women are more powerful or just as strong to men is also risen, as the women have taken over male jobs, and are initially fuelling the war, when the men are being diagnosed with war neuroses, and undergoing bed rests, however this may not be the suggestion that women are stronger, just that maybe there should be a sense of equity in a social organisation, rather than being governed by one filled with men and their ideology.