It's my observation that whenever a power wishes to castrate a populace, they give the women near-absolute power over the men.
If, in our brief time on this earth, men and women have cast their roles as, respectively, provider/protector and nurturer/provider, then it is a simple task for a conqueror to control the male "protectors" by proxy. By making the woman the family's primary provider (and, if need be protector), usurping the male role entirely, the man is reduced to honorary parasite. "Honey, I can do bad by myself!"
This HowToMakeASlave101 was especially pronounced in the antebellum South when white men were fighting bullshit duels over a lady's "honor," and black men couldn't even prevent their children from being sold or wives being raped.
Chattel is how the male power elite see today's men. Incapable of protecting either their children or themselves from an abusive wife. Incapable of refuting a female accusation. Reduced to performing a child support corvée for children they love but can't hold, theirs or not. The male power elite see theirs as a seat of unchallengable power, the feminists providing muscle, consecration and public approbation.