I agree that women uphold patriarchy too, including the hierarchical aspects. So called “mean girls” are one example, although Elle has a good piece on that (big surprise).
But I wouldn’t say that those who want to flatten hierarchies is nil — and flattening isn’t always the goal — it’s removing the dominance aspect that is important. The stated purpose of mainstream feminism is to create a world that is equitable for men and women. They don’t just want to flip the hierarchy, although that is what many men assume and believe — in part because we’ve never really known another system and it’s hard for a lot of people of any gender to even conceive of one. A few women say they want to let women lead, but even that is not necessarily for the purposes of oppression. A dominance hierarchy isn’t the only type, as Elle has also written about (I’ve learned most of this from her).
Again, as per Elle, there seems to be a major move in business to move to a less hierarchical management style, because it’s a lot more agile. As that continues, there are opportunities for it to bleed over into larger society.
The type of community policing that people all over the world are talking about right now is in direct response to the ills and abuses of a system based in a dominance hierarchy. It will take time to move more completely in that direction, but I do believe there is a lot more support for it than you seem to think, despite the fact that some people will be highly resistant to losing the advantages that a dominance hierarchy gives them. I do appreciate the discussion though.
