Patriarchy in The Stranger

I will admit that the role patriarchy played in The Stranger was not clear to me when I read it. While at some points it was clear that men were dominant, I had never considered the possible theme to be related to misogyny. I think that this ignorance was due to my privilege as a man, and the ingrained ideas of gender I live with and around. However after further reading and analyses by my peers, I understand the importance of gender in this text. When considering the theme, I immediately began to think about Meursault, and what message Camus was trying to tell us about life through him as a character, rather than how Camus chose to tell his story only with male characters and women were only viewed as inferior and useless.
I think this is due to how regardless of how hard men try to be agents of change and promote feminism, our society is in many ways patriarchal and we as a society often enforce it subconsiously. Throughout my reading of The Stranger, the issues of gender and dominance were relevant, however I still treated them as if they were lesser and normal. When Raymond abused and mistreated his mistress, Raymond may have been the one committing the act, but Meursault's silence is also part of the problem. His indifference to the situation strengthens and empowers Raymond. If Meursault is really the existentialist that we believe him to be, than his silence and indifference to the domestic abuse of a woman is his building is very important. It tells us that Meursault truly could not careless about what happens to women, since as an existentialist he should stand for what he believes in and create his own "Authentic" life.