View source for Matriarchy

{{Short description|Social system with female rule}}
{{redirect|Matriarch|other uses|Matriarch (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2012}}
{{Political anthropology|expanded=Basic concepts|Gender Studies=}}

'''Matriarchy''' is a [[social system]] in which positions of [[Power (social and political)|power]] and [[Social privilege|privilege]] are held by [[women]]. In a broader sense it can also extend to [[moral authority]], [[social privilege]], and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, definitions specific to [[anthropology]] and [[feminism]] differ in some respects.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />

Matriarchies may also be confused with [[matrilineality|matrilineal]], [[matrilocal residence|matrilocal]], and [[matrifocal family|matrifocal]] societies.<ref>''Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy'', [[Cornell University Press]], 2002.</ref> While some may consider any non-patriarchal system to be matriarchal, most academics exclude those systems from matriarchies as strictly defined. Many societies have had matriarchal elements.

== Definitions, connotations, and etymology ==
According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED''), matriarchy is a "form of social organization in which the mother or oldest female is the head of the family, and descent and relationship are reckoned through the female line; government or rule by a woman or women."<ref name="OED-matriarchy">''Oxford English Dictionary'' (online), entry ''matriarchy'', as accessed November 3, 2013{{Subscription or libraries}}.</ref> A popular definition, according to James Peoples and Garrick Bailey, is "female dominance".<ref name="HumanityIntroCulturAnthro-9ed-p259col1">{{harvp|Peoples|Bailey|2012|p=259}}</ref> Within the academic discipline of [[cultural anthropology]], according to the ''OED'', matriarchy is a "culture or community in which such a system prevails"<ref name="OED-matriarchy" /> or a "family, society, organization, etc., dominated by a woman or women" without reference to laws that require women to dominate.<ref name="OED-matriarchy" /> In general anthropology, according to William A. Haviland, matriarchy is "rule by women".<ref name="Anthro-Haviland-8ed-p579col1">Haviland, William A., ''Anthropology'' (Ft. Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 8th ed. 1997 ({{ISBN|0-15-503578-9}})), p.&nbsp;579.</ref> According to Lawrence A. Kuzner in 1997, [[Alfred Radcliffe-Brown|A. R. Radcliffe-Brown]] argued in 1924 that the definitions of matriarchy and patriarchy had "logical and empirical failings (...) [and] were too vague to be scientifically useful".<ref>Kuznar, Lawrence A., ''Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology'' (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press (div. of Sage Publications), pbk. 1997 ({{ISBN|0-7619-9114-X}})).</ref>

Most academics exclude egalitarian nonpatriarchal systems from matriarchies more strictly defined. According to [[Heide Göttner-Abendroth]], a reluctance to accept the existence of matriarchies might be based on a specific culturally biased notion of how to define matriarchy: because in a [[patriarchy]] men rule over women, a matriarchy has frequently been conceptualized as women ruling over men,<ref name="MatriarchalSocDefTheory">{{cite web | last = Göttner-Abendroth | first = Heide | author-link = Heide Göttner-Abendroth | title = Matriarchal Society: Definition and Theory | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130419055107/http://www.gift-economy.com/athanor/athanor_005.html| archive-date = 19 April 2013 | url = http://www.gift-economy.com/athanor/athanor_005.html }}<br />
::''See also'' Sanday, Peggy Reeves, [https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100164210 Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy] (Cornell University Press, 2002) ("matriarchies are not a mirror form of patriarchies but rather ... a matriarchy "emphasizes maternal meanings where 'maternal symbols are linked to social practices influencing the lives of both sexes and where women play a central role in these practices{{'"}}).{{Page needed|date=December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last = Göttner-Abendroth | first = Heide | author-link = Heide Göttner-Abendroth | title = Matriarchal studies: Past debates and new foundations | journal = [[Asian Journal of Women's Studies]] | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages =  2–6 | doi = 10.1080/12259276.2017.1283843 | date = 2017 | s2cid = 218768965 }}</ref> while she believed that matriarchies are [[egalitarian]].<ref name="MatriarchalSocDefTheory" /><ref>Lepowsky, M. A., ''Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society'' (U.S.: Columbia University Press, 1993).</ref>

[[File:Margot-adler-2004.jpg|thumb|Margot Adler (2004)]]
The word matriarchy, for a society politically led by women, especially mothers, who also control property, is often interpreted to mean the general opposite of patriarchy, but it is not an opposite.<ref>Compare, in ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (online), entry patriarchy to entry ''matriarchy'', both as accessed November 3, 2013.{{Subscription or libraries|sentence}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Eller|1995|loc=pp.&nbsp;161–162 & 184 & n.&nbsp;84}} (p.&nbsp;184 n.&nbsp;84 probably citing Spretnak, Charlene, ed., ''Politics of Women's Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power Within the Feminist Movement'' (Garden City, New York: Anchor Books, 1982), p.&nbsp;xiii (Spretnak, Charlene, ''Introduction'')).</ref><ref>{{harvp|Goettner-Abendroth|2009a|pp=1–2}}</ref> According to Peoples and Bailey, the view of anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday is that matriarchies are not a mirror or inverted form of patriarchies but rather that a matriarchy "emphasizes maternal meanings where 'maternal symbols are linked to social practices influencing the lives of both sexes and where women play a central role in these practices{{'"}}.<ref>{{harvp|Peoples|Bailey|2012|pp=258–259}}</ref> Journalist [[Margot Adler]] wrote, "literally,&nbsp;... ["''matriarchy''"] means government by mothers, or more broadly, government and power in the hands of women."<ref>{{harvp|Adler|2006|p=193}} (italics so in original)</ref> [[Barbara Love]] and Elizabeth Shanklin wrote, "by 'matriarchy,' we mean a non-alienated society: a society in which women, those who produce the next generation, define motherhood, determine the conditions of motherhood, and determine the environment in which the next generation is reared."<ref>{{harvp|Love|Shanklin|1983|p=275}}</ref> According to [[Cynthia Eller]], "'matriarchy' can be thought of&nbsp;... as a shorthand description for any society in which women's power is equal or superior to men's and in which the culture centers around values and life events described as 'feminine.'"<ref>{{harvp|Eller|2000|pp=12–13}}</ref> Eller wrote that the idea of matriarchy mainly rests on two pillars, romanticism and modern social criticism.<ref>{{harvp|Eller|2011}} {{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> With respect to a [[#Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages|prehistoric matriarchal Golden Age]], according to Barbara Epstein, "matriarchy&nbsp;... means a social system organized around matriliny and goddess worship in which women have positions of power."<ref>{{harvp|Epstein|1991|loc=p.&nbsp;173 and see p.&nbsp;172}}</ref> According to Adler, in the [[Marxism|Marxist]] tradition, it usually refers to a pre-class society "where women and men share equally in production and power."<ref name="DrawDnMoon-2006-p194">{{harvp|Adler|2006|p=194}}</ref>

According to Adler, "a number of feminists note that few definitions of the word [matriarchy], despite its literal meaning, include any concept of power, and they suggest that centuries of oppression have made it impossible for women to conceive of themselves with such power."<ref name="DrawDnMoon-2006-p194" />

Matriarchy has often been presented as negative by male, in contrast to patriarchy as natural and inevitable for society, and thus that matriarchy is hopeless. Love and Shanklin wrote:
<blockquote>When we hear the word "matriarchy", we are conditioned to a number of responses: that matriarchy refers to the past and that matriarchies have never existed; that matriarchy is a hopeless fantasy of female domination, of mothers dominating children, of women being cruel to men. Conditioning us negatively to matriarchy is, of course, in the interests of patriarchs. We are made to feel that patriarchy is natural; we are less likely to question it, and less likely to direct our energies to ending it.<ref>{{harvp|Love|Shanklin|1983}}</ref></blockquote>

The Matriarchal Studies school led by Göttner-Abendroth calls for an even more inclusive redefinition of the term: Göttner-Abendroth defines ''Modern Matriarchal Studies'' as the "investigation and presentation of non-patriarchal societies", effectively defining matriarchy as non-patriarchy.<ref>[http://www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/goettnerabendroth.html ''Introduction'', in ''Second World Congress on Matriarchal Studies''].</ref> She has also defined matriarchy as characterized by the sharing of power equally between the two genders.<ref>[http://matriarchy.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=143&Itemid=83 DeMott, Tom, ''The Investigator'' (review of Bennholdt-Thomsen, Veronika, Cornelia Giebeler, Brigitte Holzer, & Marina Meneses, ''Juchitán, City of Women'' (Mexico: Consejo Editorial, 1994))], as accessed Feb. 6, 2011.</ref> According to Diane LeBow, "matriarchal societies are often described as&nbsp;... egalitarian&nbsp;...",<ref>{{harvp|LeBow|1984}}</ref> although anthropologist Ruby Rohrlich has written of "the centrality of women in an egalitarian society."<ref>{{harvp|Rohrlich|1977|p=37}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Feminist anthropology]], an approach to anthropology that tries to reduces male bias in the field}}

Matriarchy is also the public formation in which the woman occupies the ruling position in a family.<ref name="OED-matriarchy" /> Some, including [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan|Daniel Moynihan]] in the late 20th century, claimed that there is a matriarchy among Black families in the United States,<ref>[http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/webid-meynihan.htm Office of Policy Planning and Review (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, principal author), ''The Negro Family: The Case For National Action'' (U.S. Department of Labor, 1965)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428151006/http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/webid-meynihan.htm |date=April 28, 2014 }}, esp. [https://archive.today/20131104101302/http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/moynchapter4.htm ''Chapter IV. The Tangle of Pathology''], authorship per [https://web.archive.org/web/20130830012717/http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/webidrpage.htm ''History at the Department of Labor: In-Depth Research''], all as accessed November 2, 2013.</ref>{{Efn|[[Black matriarchy]], the cultural phenomenon of many Black families being headed by mothers with fathers absent}} because a quarter of them were headed by single women;<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|p=171}}, citing Moynihan, Daniel, ''The Negro Family: The Case for National Action'' (1965) ("In this analysis Moynihan asserted that since a fourth of black families were headed by single women, black society was a matriarchy&nbsp;.... [and t]his situation undermined the confidence and 'manhood' of black men, and therefore prevented their competing successfully in the white work world.") and citing [[bell hooks|hooks, bell]]<!-- Keep the lower case for bell hooks' name. -->, either ''Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism'' (Boston: South End, 1981) or ''Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center'' (Boston: South End, 1984) (probably former), pp.&nbsp;181–187 ("freedom came to be seen by some black militants as a liberation from the oppression caused by black women"), hooks, bell, pp.&nbsp;180–181 ("many black men 'absorbed' the Moynihan ideology, and this misogyny itself became absorbed into the black freedom movement" and included this, "Moynihan's view", as a case of "American neo-Freudian revisionism where women who evidenced the slightest degree of independence were perceived as 'castrating' threats to the male identity"), and see hooks, bell, p.&nbsp;79.</ref> thus, families composing a substantial minority of a substantial minority could be enough for the latter to constitute a matriarchy within a larger non-matriarchal society with non-matriarchal political dynamics.

Etymologically, it is from [[Latin]] ''māter'' (genitive ''mātris''), "mother" and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ἄρχειν ''arkhein'', "to rule".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=matriarchy |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=matriarchy |dictionary=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]}}</ref> The notion of matriarchy was defined by [[Joseph-François Lafitau]] (1681–1746), who first named it ''ginécocratie''.<ref>[[Edvard Westermarck]] (1921), [https://archive.org/details/historyofhumanma03westuoft ''The History of Human Marriage'', Vol. 3], London: Macmillan, p. 108.</ref> According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]]'', the earliest known attestation of the word matriarchy is in 1885.<ref name="OED-matriarchy" /> By contrast, [[:wikt:gynecocracy|gynæcocracy]], meaning 'rule of women', has been in use since the 17th century, building on the Greek word {{Lang|grc|γυναικοκρατία}} found in [[Aristotle]] and [[Plutarch]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3D%237148 Liddell, Henry George, & Robert Scott, ''An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon'', for ''γυναικοκρατία''].</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2323035 Liddell, Henry George, & Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', for ''γυ^ναικο-κρα^τέομαι''].</ref>

Terms with similar etymology are also used in various social sciences and humanities to describe matriarchal or ''matriological'' aspects of social, cultural, and political processes.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} Adjective ''matriological'' is derived from the noun ''matriology'' that comes from Latin word ''māter'' (mother) and Greek word λογος (''logos'', teaching about).{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} The term matriology was used in theology and history of religion as a designation for the study of particular motherly aspects of various female deities.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} The term was subsequently borrowed by other social sciences and humanities and its meaning was widened in order to describe and define particular female-dominated and female-centered aspects of cultural and social life.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} The male alternative for matriology is patriology,{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} with patriarchy being the male alternative to matriarchy<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Classical Tradition|last=Grafton|first=Anthony|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2013|isbn=9781782684039|location=Cambridge}}</ref>{{Pages needed|date=September 2017}}.

== Related concepts ==
In their works, [[Johann Jakob Bachofen]] and [[Lewis H. Morgan|Lewis Morgan]]<!-- In subsequent references to this Morgan, include the given name, Lewis, to avoid a confusion with Robin. --> used such terms and expressions as ''mother-right'', ''female rule'', ''gyneocracy'', and ''female authority''. All these terms meant the same: the rule by women (mother or wife).{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} Although Bachofen and Lewis Morgan confined the "mother-right" inside households, it was the basis of female influence upon the whole society.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Banerjee |first=Roopleena |title='Matriarchy' and Contemporary Khasi Society |date=2015 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156662 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=76 |pages=918–930 |jstor=44156662 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref> The authors of the classics did not think that ''gyneocracy'' meant 'female government' in politics.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} They were aware of the fact that the sexual structure of government had no relation to domestic rule and to roles of both sexes.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}

=== Words beginning with  ''gyn-'' ===
{{Redirect|Gynecocracy|the novel|Gynecocracy (novel)}}
A matriarchy is also sometimes called a ''[[matrifocal family|gynarchy]]'', a ''gynocracy'', a ''gynecocracy'', or a ''[[gynocentric]]'' society, although these terms do not definitionally emphasize motherhood. [[Cultural anthropology|Cultural anthropologist]] Jules de Leeuwe argued that some societies were "mainly ''gynecocratic''"<ref name="Jules de Leeuwe">Leeuwe, Jules de, untitled comment (November 18, 1977) (emphases so in original), as a response to and with [[Eleanor Leacock|Leacock, Eleanor]], ''Women's Status in Egalitarian Society: Implications for Social Evolution'', in ''Current Anthropology'', vol.&nbsp;33, no.&nbsp;1, supp. ''Inquiry and Debate in the Human Sciences: Contributions from Current Anthropology, 1960–1990'' (February, 1992 ({{ISSN|0011-3204}} & E-ISSN 1537-5382)), p.&nbsp;241.</ref> (others being "mainly ''androcratic''").<ref name="Jules de Leeuwe" />{{Efn|[[Androcracy]], form of government ruled by men, especially fathers}}

Gynecocracy, gynaecocracy, gynocracy, gyneocracy, and gynarchy generally mean 'government by women over women and men'.<ref>{{harvp|OED|1993|loc=entries ''gynaecocracy'', ''gynocracy'', ''gynarchy'' & ''gyneocracy''}}</ref><ref name="W3-3defs">''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged'' (G. & C. Merriam (Merriam-Webster), 1966), entries ''gynecocracy'', ''gynocracy'', & ''gynarchy''.</ref><ref name="AmHeritageDict3ed-3defs">''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 3d ed. 1992 ({{ISBN|0-395-44895-6}})), entries ''gynecocracy'', ''gynocracy'', & ''gynarchy''.</ref><ref name="RHsWebUnDict2ed-2defs">''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary'' (N.Y.: Random House, 2d ed. 2001 ({{ISBN|0-375-42566-7}})), entries ''gynecocracy'' & ''gynarchy''.</ref> All of these words are synonyms in their most important definitions, and while these words all share that principal meaning, they differ a little in their additional meanings, so that ''gynecocracy'' also means 'women's social supremacy',<ref name="W3-gynecocracy">''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged'' (G. & C. Merriam (Merriam-Webster), 1966), entry ''gynecocracy''.</ref> ''gynaecocracy'' also means 'government by one woman', 'female dominance', and, derogatorily, 'petticoat government',<ref>{{harvp|OED|1993|loc=''gynaecocracy''}}</ref> and ''gynocracy'' also means 'women as the ruling class'.<ref>{{harvp|OED|1993|loc=''gynocracy''}}</ref> ''Gyneocracy'' is rarely used in modern times.<ref>{{harvp|OED|1993|loc=''gyneocracy''}}</ref> None of these definitions are limited to mothers.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Some question whether a queen ruling without a king is sufficient to constitute female government, given the amount of participation of other men in most such governments. One view is that it is sufficient. "By the end of [Queen] Elizabeth's reign, gynecocracy was a ''fait accompli''", according to historian Paula Louise Scalingi.<ref>{{harvp|Scalingi|1978|p=72}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]], queen regnant of England and Ireland in 1533–1603}} Gynecocracy is defined by Scalingi as "government by women",<ref>{{harvp|Scalingi|1978|p=59}}</ref> similar to dictionary definitions<ref name="W3-3defs" /><ref name="AmHeritageDict3ed-3defs" /><ref name="RHsWebUnDict2ed-2defs" /> (one dictionary adding 'women's social supremacy' to the governing role).<ref name="W3-gynecocracy" /> Scalingi reported arguments for and against the validity of gynocracy<ref>{{harvp|Scalingi|1978|loc=p.&nbsp;60 & ''passim''}}</ref> and said, "the humanists treated the question of female rule as part of the larger controversy over sexual equality."<ref name="ScepterDistaff-Historian-p60">{{harvp|Scalingi|1978|p=60}}</ref> Possibly, queenship, because of the power wielded by men in leadership and assisting a queen, leads to [[queen bee syndrome]], contributing to the difficulty of other women in becoming heads of the government.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}

Some matriarchies have been described by historian [[Bertha Eckstein-Diener|Helen Diner]] as "a strong gynocracy"<ref name="MothersAmazons-1965-p137">{{harvp|Diner|1965|p=173}}</ref> and "women monopolizing government"<ref>{{harvp|Diner|1965|p=136}}</ref> and she described matriarchal [[Amazons]] as "an extreme, feminist wing"<ref>{{harvp|Diner|1965|loc=p.&nbsp;123 and see p.&nbsp;122}}</ref>{{Efn|Amazon feminism, feminism that emphasizes female physical prowess toward the goal of gender equality}} of humanity and that North African women "ruled the country politically" before being overthrown by forms of patriarchy<ref name="MothersAmazons-1965-p137" /> and, according to Adler, Diner "envision[ed] a dominance matriarchy".<ref>{{harvp|Adler|2006|p=195}}</ref>

[[Gynocentrism]] is the 'dominant or exclusive focus on women', is opposed to [[androcentrism]], and "invert[s]&nbsp;... the privilege of the&nbsp;... [male/female] binary&nbsp;...[,] [some feminists] arguing for 'the superiority of values embodied in traditionally female experience'".<ref>Latter quotation: {{Cite book | last = Davis | first = Debra Diane | title = Breaking up [at] totality: A rhetoric of laughter | at = p.&nbsp;137 and see pp.&nbsp;136–137 & 143 | publisher = Southern Illinois University Press | location = Carbondale, Illinois | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0809322282 }} (brackets in title so in original) & quoting: {{Cite journal | last = Young | first = Iris Marion | author-link = Iris Marion Young | title = Humanism, gynocentrism, and feminist politics | journal = [[Women's Studies International Forum]] | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages = 173–183 | doi = 10.1016/0277-5395(85)90040-8 | date = 1985 }}</ref>

=== Intergenerational relationships ===
Some people who sought evidence for the existence of a matriarchy often mixed matriarchy with anthropological terms and concepts describing specific arrangements in the field of family relationships and the organization of family life, such as matrilineality and matrilocality. These terms refer to intergenerational relationships (as matriarchy may), but do not distinguish between males and females insofar as they apply to specific arrangements for sons as well as daughters from the perspective of their relatives on their mother's side. Accordingly, these concepts do not represent matriarchy as 'power of women over men' but instead familial dynamics.<ref>Ferraro, Gary, Wenda Trevathan, & Janet Levy, ''Anthropology: An Applied Perspective'' (Minneapolis: West Publishing Co., 1992), p.&nbsp;360.{{Verify source|type=title or year|date=October 2013}}</ref>

=== Words beginning with ''matri-'' ===
{{Further|list of matrilineal or matrilocal societies}}
Anthropologists have begun to use the term matrifocality.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} There is some debate concerning the terminological delineation between ''[[matrifocal family|matrifocality]]'' and ''matriarchy''.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} Matrifocal societies are those in which women, especially mothers, occupy a central position.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} Anthropologist R. T. Smith refers to ''matrifocality'' as the kinship structure of a social system whereby the mothers assume structural prominence.<ref name="IntntnlEncycSocBehavSci-v14-p9416">Smith, R.T., ''Matrifocality'', in Smelser & Baltes, eds., ''International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences'' (2002), vol. 14, p.&nbsp;9416 ''ff.''</ref> The term does not necessarily imply domination by women or mothers.<ref name="IntntnlEncycSocBehavSci-v14-p9416" /> In addition, some authors depart from the premise of a mother-child dyad as the core of a human group where the grandmother was the central ancestor with her children and grandchildren clustered around her in an extended family.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=reU63yfgrWIC Ruether, Rosemary Radford, ''Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History''], p.&nbsp;18.</ref>

The term matricentric means 'having a mother as head of the family or household'.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}

[[File:Venus von Willendorf 01.jpg|thumb|Venus von Willendorf, a [[Venus figurines|Venus figurine]]]]
Matristic: Feminist scholars and archeologists such as [[Marija Gimbutas]], [[Gerda Lerner]], and [[Riane Eisler]]<ref>Eisler, Riane, ''The Chalice and the Blade'', as cited at the [http://www.rianeeisler.com/chalice.htm author's website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202041046/http://www.rianeeisler.com/chalice.htm |date=February 2, 2010 }}, as accessed Jan. 26, 2011.</ref> label their notion of a "woman-centered" society surrounding [[Mother Goddess]] worship during prehistory (in [[Paleolithic]] and [[Neolithic Europe]]) and in ancient civilizations by using the term ''matristic'' rather than ''matriarchal.'' [[Marija Gimbutas]] states that she uses "the term matristic simply to avoid the term matriarchy with the understanding that it incorporates matriliny."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gimbutas |first=Marija |title=The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe |year=1991 |publisher=Harper |pages=324}}</ref>

[[Matrilineality]], in which descent is traced through the female line, is sometimes conflated with historical matriarchy.<ref name="InvisibleSex-pp251-255-255">Adovasio, J. M., Olga Soffer, & Jake Page, ''The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory'' (Smithsonian Books & Collins (HarperCollinsPublishers), 1st Smithsonian Books ed. 2007 ({{ISBN|978-0-06-117091-1}})), pp.&nbsp;251–255, esp. p.&nbsp;255.</ref> Sanday favors redefining and reintroducing the word ''matriarchy'', especially in reference to contemporary matrilineal societies such as the [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]].<ref>Sanday, Peggy Reeves, ''Woman at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy'' (Cornell University Press, 2004 ({{ISBN|0-8014-8906-7}})).{{Page needed|date=November 2013}}</ref> The 19th-century belief that matriarchal societies existed was due to the transmission of "economic and social power&nbsp;... through kinship lines"<ref name="LivingLapGoddess-p152-158-161">{{harvp|Eller|1995|loc=p.&nbsp;152 and see pp.&nbsp;158–161}}</ref> so that "in a matrilineal society all power would be channeled through women. Women may not have retained all power and authority in such societies&nbsp;..., but they would have been in a position to control and dispense power... not unlike the nagging wife or the domineering mother."<ref name="LivingLapGoddess-p152-158-161" />

A [[matrilocal residence|matrilocal]] society defines a society in which a couple resides close to the bride's family rather than the bridegroom's family.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sanctifying Misandry: Goddess Ideology and the Fall of Man|last=Young|first=Katherine|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7735-3615-9|location=Canada|pages=33–34}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}

== History and distribution ==
Most anthropologists hold that there are no known societies that are unambiguously matriarchal, at least no matriarchal society that have completely excluded the opposite [[gender]] from roles of authority.<ref name=":6">Goldberg, Steven, ''The Inevitability of Patriarchy'' (William Morrow & Co., 1973).{{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Eller|2000}} {{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref><ref name=":7">''Encyclopædia Britannica'' describes this view as "consensus", listing matriarchy as a hypothetical social system: ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2007), entry ''Matriarchy''.</ref> According to [[James M. Adovasio|J. M. Adovasio]], Olga Soffer, and Jake Page, no matriarchy with the element of exclusion is known to have existed.<ref name="InvisibleSex-pp251-255-255" /> Anthropologist [[Donald Brown (anthropologist)|Donald Brown]]'s list of [[cultural universal|human cultural universals]] (''viz.'', features shared by nearly all current human societies) includes men being the "dominant element" in public political affairs,<ref>Brown, Donald E., ''Human Universals'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991), p.&nbsp;137.</ref> which he asserts is the contemporary opinion of mainstream [[anthropology]],<ref name=":0">"The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development now is generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2007), entry ''Matriarchy''.</ref> although there are some disagreements and exceptions. 

A belief that women's rule preceded men's rule was, according to Haviland, "held by many nineteenth-century intellectuals".<ref name="Anthro-Haviland-8ed-p579col1" /> The hypothesis was notably advanced in the context of feminism and especially [[second-wave feminism]], and have gained popularity as [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] and gender research advances.

Matriarchs, according to Peoples and Bailey, do exist; there are "individual matriarchs of families and kin groups."<ref name="HumanityIntroCulturAnthro-9ed-p259col1" />

=== By region and culture ===

==== Ancient Near East ====
''The Cambridge Ancient History'' (1975)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=n1TmVvMwmo4C&q=matriarchy&pg=RA1-PA400 ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' (reprinted 2000, © 1975), vol. 2, pt. 2], p.&nbsp;400.</ref> stated that "the predominance of a supreme goddess is probably a reflection from the practice of matriarchy which at all times characterized [[Elam]]ite civilization to a greater or lesser degree, before this practice was overthrown by the patriarchy".{{Efn|[[Elam|Elamite civilization]], an ancient civilization in part of what is now Iran}}

==== Europe ====
[[Tacitus]] claimed in his book ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' that in "the nations of the [[Sitones]] woman is the ruling sex."<ref>[http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/germany/chap1.htm Tacitus, Cornelius, ''Germania'' (A.D. 98)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130907080254/http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/germany/chap1.htm |date=September 7, 2013 }}, as accessed June 8, 2013, paragraph 45.<br />Paragraph 45:6: ''Suionibus Sithonum gentes continuantur, cetera similes uno differunt, quod femina dominatur: in tantum non modo a libertate, sed etiam a servitute degenerant. Hic Suebiae finis.''{{Citation needed|reason=The linked-to source does not have a paragraph 45:6 or this non-English text; please cite what does.|date=July 2014}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Sitones]], a Germanic or Finnic people who lived in Northern Europe in the first century AD}}

[[Robert Graves]] in his book "[[The Greek Myths]]" (1955) controversially argued that many of those mythic stories derive from a time when European matriarchy and female-dominated religion was being resisted and eventually overthrown by patriarchal systems and beliefs.

[[Anne Helene Gjelstad]] describes the women on the [[Estonia]]n islands [[Kihnu]] and [[Manilaid|Manija]] as "the last matriarchal society in Europe" because "the older women here take care of almost everything on land as their husbands travel the seas".<ref>{{cite book |title=Big heart, strong hands |isbn=9781911306566 |date=January 2020|last1=Gjelstad |first1=Anne Helene |publisher=Dewi Lewis }}</ref>
<ref>The Guardian, [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2020/feb/26/where-women-rule-the-last-matriarchy-in-europe-in-pictures-anne-helene-gjelstad Where women rule: the last matriarchy in Europe – in pictures] (2020-02-26)</ref>

==== Asia ====
{{Further|Shillong, Meghalaya}}

The [[Khasi people|Khasi]] and [[Garo people]]s residing in the North East regions of India are two of the top matriarchal societies of [[Meghalaya]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

===== Burma =====
Possible matriarchies in Burma are, according to Jorgen Bisch, the [[Kayan people (Burma)|Padaungs]]<ref>Bisch, Jorgen, ''Why Buddha Smiles'', p.&nbsp;71 (Ahu Ho Gong, Padaung chief: "no man can be chief over women. I am chief of the men. But women, well! Women only do what they themselves wish" & "it is the same with women all over the world", pp.&nbsp;52–53, & "no man can rule over women. They just do what they themselves want").{{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> and, according to Andrew Marshall, the [[Bwe people|Kayaw]].<ref>Marshall, Andrew, ''The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire'' ({{ISBN|1-58243-120-5}}), p.&nbsp;213 ("Kayaw societies are strictly matriarchal.").</ref>

===== China =====
The [[Mosuo]] culture, which is in China near [[Tibet]], is frequently described as matriarchal.<ref>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/in-china-a-matriarchy-under-threat/article590590/ MacKinnon, Mark, ''In China, a Matriarchy Under Threat''], in ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), August 15, 2011, 11:55p.</ref> The term [[Matrilineality|matrilineal]] is sometimes used, and, while more accurate, still does not reflect the full complexity of their social organization. In fact, it is not easy to categorize Mosuo culture within traditional Western definitions. They have aspects of a matriarchal culture: women are often the head of the house, inheritance is through the female line, and women make business decisions. However, the current culture of the Mosuo has been heavily shaped by their minority status.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180112220704/http://www.mosuoproject.org/matri.htm Lugu Lake Mosuo Cultural Development Association, ''The Mosuo: Matriarchal/Matrilineal Culture'' (2006)]}}, retrieved July 10, 2011.</ref>

===== India =====
In India, of communities recognized in the [[Constitution of India|national Constitution]] as Scheduled Tribes, "some&nbsp;... [are] matriarchal and matrilineal"<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1080/13545701.2012.752312 | volume=19 | title=Women's Empowerment and Gender Bias in the Birth and Survival of Girls in Urban India | year=2013 | journal=Feminist Economics | pages=1–28 | last1 = Sinha Mukherjee | first1 = Sucharita| s2cid=155056803 }},   citing Srinivas, Mysore Narasimhachar, ''The Cohesive Role of Sanskritization and Other Essays'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989), & Agarwal, Bina, ''A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).</ref> "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian".<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mukherjee | first1 = Sucharita Sinha | year = 2013| title = Women's Empowerment and Gender Bias in the Birth and Survival of Girls in Urban India | journal = Feminist Economics | volume =  19| pages =  1–28| doi = 10.1080/13545701.2012.752312 | s2cid = 155056803 }}</ref> According to interviewer Anuj Kumar, [[Manipur]], India, "has a matriarchal society",<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article3682202.ece Kumar, Anuj, ''Let's Anger Her!'' (''sic'')<!-- The Sic template prematurely ends the link and shouldn't be used. -->, in ''The Hindu'', July 25, 2012], as accessed September 29, 2012 (whether statement was by Kumar or Kom is unknown).</ref> but this may not be scholarly. In Kerala, Nairs, Thiyyas, Brahmins of Payyannoor village and Muslims of North Malabar and in Karnataka, Bunts and Billavas follow the matrilineal system.

===== Indonesia =====
Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday has said that the [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]] society is a matriarchy.<ref>Sanday, Peggy Reeves, ''Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy'' (Cornell University Press, 2002).{{Page needed|date=December 2016}}</ref>

===== Ancient Vietnam (before 43 CE) =====
According to William S. Turley, "the role of women in traditional Vietnamese culture was determined [partly] by&nbsp;... indigenous customs bearing traces of matriarchy",<ref name="WomenCommunRevVietnam-p793n1">{{cite journal |last1=Turley |first1=William S. |title=Women in the Communist Revolution in Vietnam |journal=Asian Survey |date=September 1972 |volume=12 |issue=9 |pages=793–805 |doi=10.2307/2642829|jstor=2642829 }}</ref> affecting "different social classes"<ref name="WomenCommunRevVietnam-p793n1" /> to "varying degrees".<ref name="WomenCommunRevVietnam-p793n1" /> [[Peter C. Phan]] explains that "the ancient Vietnamese family system was most likely matriarchal, with women ruling over the clan or tribe" until the Vietnamese "adopt[ed] ... the patriarchal system introduced by the Chinese."<ref>{{harvp|Phan|2005|loc=p.&nbsp;12 and see pp.&nbsp;13 & 32}} (the "three persons" apparently being the sisters Trung Trac and Trung Nhi in A.D. 40, per p.&nbsp;12, & Trieu Au in A.D. 248, per p.&nbsp;13).</ref><ref name="VietAmCatholics-p32">{{harvp|Phan|2005|p=32}}</ref> That being said, even after adopting the patriarchal Chinese system, Vietnamese women, especially peasant women, still held a higher position than women in most patriarchal societies.<ref name="VietAmCatholics-p32" /><ref>{{harvp|Phan|2005|p=33}}</ref> According to Chiricosta, the legend of [[Âu Cơ]] is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' in North Vietnam and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there&nbsp;.... [and which] combined matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of family structure and assigned equal importance to both lines."<ref>Chiricosta, Alessandra, ''Following the Trail of the Fairy-Bird: The Search For a Uniquely Vietnamese Women's Movement'', in {{harvp|Roces|Edwards|2010|pp=125, 126}} (single quotation marks so in original).</ref>{{Efn|[[North Vietnam]], sovereign state until merged with South Vietnam in 1976}}{{Efn|[[Patrilineality|Patrilineal]], belonging to the father's lineage, generally for inheritance}} Chiricosta said that other scholars relied on "this 'matriarchal' aspect of the myth to differentiate Vietnamese society from the pervasive spread of Chinese Confucian patriarchy,"<ref>{{harvp|Roces|Edwards|2010|p=125}} (single quotation marks so in original).</ref>{{Efn|[[Confucianism]], ethics and philosophy derived from Confucius}} and that "resistance to China's colonization of Vietnam&nbsp;... [combined with] the view that Vietnam was originally a matriarchy&nbsp;... [led to viewing] women's struggles for liberation from (Chinese) patriarchy as a metaphor for the entire nation's struggle for Vietnamese independence," and therefore, a "metaphor for the struggle of the matriarchy to resist being overthrown by the patriarchy."<ref>{{harvp|Roces|Edwards|2010|p=125}} (parentheses so in original).</ref> According to [[Keith Taylor (historian)|Keith Weller Taylor]], "the matriarchal flavor of the time is&nbsp;... attested by the fact that Trung Trac's mother's tomb and spirit temple have survived, although nothing remains of her father",<ref>{{harvp|Taylor|1983|p=39}} (n.&nbsp;176 omitted).</ref> and the "society of the Trung sisters" was "strongly matrilineal".<ref>Both quotations: {{harvp|Taylor|1983|p=338}}</ref> According to Donald M. Seekins, an indication of "the strength of matriarchal values"<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898">Seekins, Donald M., ''Trung Sisters, Rebellion of (39–43)'', in Sandler, Stanley, ed., ''Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia'' (Santa Barbara California: ABC-Clio, hardcover 2002 ({{ISBN|1-57607-344-0}})), vol. 3, p. 898.</ref> was that a woman, [[Trưng Sisters|Trưng Trắc]], with her younger sister [[Trưng Sisters|Trưng Nhị]], raised an army of "over 80,000 soldiers&nbsp;... [in which] many of her officers were women",<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> with which they defeated the Chinese.<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> According to Seekins, "in [the year] 40, Trung Trac was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her"<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> and modern Vietnam considers the Trung sisters to be heroines.<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> According to Karen G. Turner, in the third century A.D., [[Lady Triệu]] {{Nowrap|"seem[ed]&nbsp;...}} to personify the matriarchal culture that mitigated Confucianized patriarchal norms&nbsp;.... [although] she is also painted as something of a freak&nbsp;... with her&nbsp;... savage, violent streak."<ref>Turner, Karen G., ''"Vietnam" as a Women's War'', in Young, Marilyn B., & Robert Buzzanco, eds., ''A Companion to the Vietnam War'' (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, hardback 2002 ({{ISBN|0-631-21013-X}})), pp.&nbsp;95–96 but see p.&nbsp;107.</ref>

==== Native Americans ====
{{Main|Gender roles among the indigenous peoples of North America|Native Americans in the United States#Gender roles}}
[[File:Nampeyo and Family, 1901, Adam Clark Vroman.jpg|thumb|[[Nampeyo]], of the [[Hopi-Tewa]] People, in 1901; with her mother, White Corn; her eldest daughter, Annie Healing holding her granddaughter, Rachel]]
[[File:Girl in the Hopi Reservation.JPG|thumb|Girl in the Hopi Reservation]]
The [[Hopi people|Hopi]] (in what is now the [[Hopi Reservation]] in northeastern [[Arizona]]), according to [[Alice Schlegel]], had as its "gender ideology&nbsp;... one of female superiority, and it operated within a social actuality of sexual equality."<ref>{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|loc=p.&nbsp;44 and see pp.&nbsp;44–52}}</ref> According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles&nbsp;... are egalitarian&nbsp;.... [and] [n]either sex is inferior."<ref>{{harvp|LeBow|1984|p=8}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Gender role]], set of norms for a gender in social relationships}} LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in&nbsp;... political decision-making."<ref>{{harvp|LeBow|1984|p=18}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Haudenosaunee Clan Mother|Clan Mother]]s, elder matriarchs of certain Native American clans, who were typically in charge of appointing tribal chiefs}} According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here"<ref name="Schlegelp44n1">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|loc=p.&nbsp;44 n.&nbsp;1}}</ref> and "the attitude of female superiority is fading".<ref name="Schlegelp44n1" /> Schlegel said the Hopi "were and still are matrilineal"<ref name="Schlegelp45">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|p=45}}</ref> and "the household&nbsp;... was matrilocal".<ref name="Schlegelp45" /> Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good&nbsp;... [with] the female principle&nbsp;... activated in women and in Mother Earth&nbsp;... as its source"<ref name="Schlegelp50" /> and that the Hopi had no need for an army as they did not have rivalries with neighbors.<ref name="Schlegelp49">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|p=49}}</ref> Women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)."<ref name="Schlegelp49" /> The Clan Mother, for example, was empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair<ref name="Schlegelp50">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|p=50}}</ref> since there was no "countervailing&nbsp;... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure".<ref name="Schlegelp50" />

The [[Iroquois]] Confederacy or League, combining five to six Native American [[Haudenosaunee]] nations or tribes before the U.S. became a nation, operated by [[Great Law of Peace|The Great Binding Law of Peace]], a constitution by which women participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war,<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|pp=498–509}}</ref> through what may have been a matriarchy<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|pp=506–507}}</ref> or gyneocracy.<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|pp=505 & 506}}, quoting Carr, L., ''The Social and Political Position of Women Among the Huron-Iroquois Tribes, Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology'', p.&nbsp;223 (1884).</ref> According to Doug George-Kanentiio, in this society, mothers exercise central moral and political roles.<ref name="IroquoisCultureCommentary-p53-p55">George-Kanentiio, Doug, ''Iroquois Culture & Commentary'' (New Mexico: Clear Light Publishers, 2000), pp.&nbsp;53–55.</ref> The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown; the League was formed in approximately 1000–1450, but the constitution was oral until written in about 1880.<ref name="IroquoisGreatLawUSConst-p498">{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|loc=p. 498 & n. 6}}</ref> The League still exists.

George-Kanentiio explains:
<blockquote>
In our society, women are the center of all things. Nature, we believe, has given women the ability to create; therefore it is only natural that women be in positions of power to protect this function....We traced our clans through women; a child born into the world assumed the clan membership of its mother. Our young women were expected to be physically strong....The young women received formal instruction in traditional planting....Since the Iroquois were absolutely dependent upon the crops they grew, whoever controlled this vital activity wielded great power within our communities. It was our belief that since women were the givers of life they naturally regulated the feeding of our people....In all countries, real wealth stems from the control of land and its resources. Our Iroquois philosophers knew this as well as we knew natural law. To us it made sense for women to control the land since they were far more sensitive to the rhythms of the Mother Earth. We did not own the land but were custodians of it. Our women decided any and all issues involving territory, including where a community was to be built and how land was to be used....In our political system, we mandated full equality. Our leaders were selected by a caucus of women before the appointments were subject to popular review....Our traditional governments are composed of an equal number of men and women. The men are chiefs and the women clan-mothers....As leaders, the women closely monitor the actions of the men and retain the right to veto any law they deem inappropriate....Our women not only hold the reins of political and economic power, they also have the right to determine all issues involving the taking of human life. Declarations of war had to be approved by the women, while treaties of peace were subject to their deliberations.<ref name="IroquoisCultureCommentary-p53-p55" /></blockquote>

=== By chronology ===

==== Earliest prehistory and undated ====
The controversy surrounding prehistoric or "primal" matriarchy began in reaction to the 1861 book by Bachofen, ''Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World''. Several generations of ethnologists were inspired by his pseudo-evolutionary theory of archaic matriarchy. Following him and [[Jane Ellen Harrison]], several generations of scholars, usually arguing from known myths or oral traditions and examination of Neolithic female cult-figures, suggested that many ancient societies might have been matriarchal, or even that there existed a wide-ranging matriarchal society prior to the ancient cultures of which we are aware. After Bachofen's three-volume ''Myth, Religion, and Mother Right'', classicists such as Harrison, [[Arthur Evans]], [[Walter Burkert]], and [[James Mellaart]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=reU63yfgrWIC Ruether, Rosemary Radford, ''Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History''], p.&nbsp;15.</ref> looked at the evidence of [[matriarchal religion]] in pre-Hellenic societies.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3qhQuWPNUckC&q=bachofen Bachofen, Johann Jakob, ''Myth, Religion, and Mother Right''].{{Page needed|date=November 2013}}</ref> The concept was further investigated by Lewis Morgan.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/morgan-lewis/ancient-society/ancient-society.zip Morgan, L., ''Ancient Society Or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization''].</ref> According to Uwe Wesel, Bachofen's myth interpretations have proved to be untenable.<ref>Wesel, Uwe, ''Der Mythos vom Matriarchat. Über Bachofens Mutterrecht und die Stellung von Frauen in frühen Gesellschaften'' (Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1980).{{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> According to historian [[Susan L. Mann|Susan Mann]], as of 2000, "few scholars these days find&nbsp;... [a "notion of a stage of primal matriarchy"] persuasive."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mann |first1=Susan |title=Presidential Address: Myths of Asian Womanhood |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |date=November 2000 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=835–862 |doi=10.2307/2659214 |jstor=2659214 |s2cid=161399752 }}</ref>

[[Kurt Derungs]] is a recent non-academic author advocating an "anthropology of landscape" based on allegedly matriarchal traces in [[toponymy]] and folklore.<ref>{{cite book |last1=von Stuckrad |first1=Kocku |author1-link=Kocku von Stuckrad |chapter=Constructing Femininity – the Lilith Case |pages=67–92 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjZWZt_Xs34C&pg=PA67 |editor1-last=Platzner |editor1-first=Robert Leonard |title=Gender, Tradition and Renewal |date=2005 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-906769-64-6 }}</ref>

==== Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages ====
[[Friedrich Engels]], in 1884, claimed that, in the earliest stages of human social development, there was group marriage and that therefore paternity was disputable, whereas maternity was not, so that a family could be traced only through the female line. This was a materialist interpretation of Bachofen's ''Mutterrecht''.<ref>{{harvp|Engels|1984}} {{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref><ref>Bachofen, Johann Jakob, ''Das Mutterrecht. Eine Untersuchung über die Gynaikokratie der alten Welt nach ihrer religiösen und rechtlichen Natur. Eine Auswahl herausgegeben von Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs'' (Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1975 [1861]).{{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> Engels speculated that the domestication of animals increased material wealth, which was claimed by men.{{Citation needed|date=October 2013}} Engels said that men wanted to control women to use as laborers and to pass on wealth to their children, requiring monogamy;{{Citation needed|date=October 2013}} as patriarchy rose, women's status declined until they became mere objects in the exchange trade between men, causing the global defeat of the female sex<ref>{{harvp|Engels|1984|p=70}}</ref> and the rise of individualism and competition.<ref>{{harvp|Engels|1984|p=204}}</ref> According to Eller, Engels may have been influenced with respect to women's status by [[August Bebel]],<ref>{{harvp|Eller|2011|p=115}}</ref> according to whom matriarchy naturally resulted in [[communism]], while patriarchy was characterized by exploitation.<ref>Bebel, August, ''Die Frau und der Sozialismus. Als Beitrag zur Emanzipation unserer Gesellschaft, bearbeitet und kommentiert von Monika Seifert'' (Stuttgart: Dietz, 1974 (1st published 1879)), p.&nbsp;63.</ref>

Austrian writer [[Bertha Eckstein-Diener|Bertha Diener]] (or Helen Diner), wrote ''Mothers and Amazons'' (1930), the first work to focus on women's cultural history, a classic of feminist matriarchal study.<ref name="Dinner party">[http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/helen_diner.php ''Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Helen Diner'' (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Museum, last updated March 27, 2007)], as accessed March, 2008, & November 15, 2013.</ref> Her view is that all past human societies were originally matriarchal, while most later shifted to patriarchy and degenerated. The controversy intensified with ''[[The White Goddess]]'' by [[Robert Graves]] (1948) and his later analysis of classical Greek mythology, focusing on the reconstruction of earlier myths that had conjecturally been rewritten after a transition from matriarchal to patriarchal religion in very early historical times.

From the 1950s, Marija Gimbutas developed a theory of an ''[[Old European culture]]'' in Neolithic Europe with matriarchal traits, which had been replaced by the patriarchal system of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] in the [[Bronze Age]]. However, other anthropologists warned that "the goddess worship or matrilocality that evidently existed in many paleolithic societies was not necessarily associated with matriarchy in the sense of women's power over men. Many societies can be found that exhibit those qualities along with female subordination."<ref>{{harvp|Epstein|1991|p=173}}</ref> According to Eller, Gimbutas had a large part in constructing a myth of historical matriarchy by examining [[Eastern Europe]]an cultures that never really resembled the alleged universal matriarchy. She asserts that in "actually documented primitive societies" of recent (historical) times, paternity is never ignored and that the sacred status of goddesses does not automatically increase female social status, and she interprets utopian matriarchy as an invented inversion of [[antifeminism]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}

From the 1970s, ideas of matriarchy were taken up by popular writers of second-wave feminism such as [[Riane Eisler]], [[Elizabeth Gould Davis]], and [[Merlin Stone]], and expanded with the speculations of [[Margaret Murray]] on [[witchcraft]], by the [[Goddess movement]], and in [[feminist Wicca]]. "A Golden Age of matriarchy" was prominently presented by [[Charlene Spretnak]] and "encouraged" by Stone and Eisler,<ref>{{harvp|Epstein|1991|pp=172–173}}</ref> but, at least for the [[Neolithic]] Age, it has been denounced as feminist wishful thinking in works such as ''[[The Inevitability of Patriarchy]]'', ''[[Why Men Rule]]'', ''Goddess Unmasked'',<ref>Davis, Philip G., ''Goddess Unmasked'' (N.Y.: Spence Publishing, 1998 ({{ISBN|0-9653208-9-8}})); [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-54600098.html Sheaffer, R., ''Skeptical Inquirer'' (1999) (review)].</ref> and ''[[The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory]]''. The idea is not emphasized in [[third-wave feminism]].

J.F. del Giorgio insists on a matrifocal, matrilocal, matrilineal Paleolithic society.<ref>del Giorgio, J.F., ''The Oldest Europeans'' (A.J.Place, 2006 ({{ISBN|978-980-6898-00-4}})).</ref>

==== Bronze Age ====
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2013}}
According to Rohrlich, "many scholars are convinced that Crete was a matriarchy, ruled by a queen-priestess"<ref>{{harvp|Rohrlich|1977|p=36}} and see p.&nbsp;37 ("Minoan matriarchate" (subquoting, at p.&nbsp;37 n.&nbsp;7, Thomson, George, ''The Prehistoric Aegean'' (N.Y.: Citadel Press, 1965), p.&nbsp;450)), Baruch, Elaine Hoffman, ''Introduction'', in Pt. Four (''Visions of Utopia''), in {{harvp|Rohrlich|1984|p=207}} ("matriarchal societies, particularly Minoan Crete"), and {{harvp|Rohrlich|1984|p=6}} ("the Minoan matriarchy" & "Minoan Crete").</ref> and the "Cretan civilization" was "matriarchal" before "1500 BC," when it was overrun and colonized by the patriarchy.<ref>Three quotations: {{harvp|Rohrlich|1977|p=37}}</ref>

Also according to Rohrlich, "in the early Sumerian city-states 'matriarchy seems to have left something more than a trace.{{'"}}<ref>{{harvp|Rohrlich|1977|p=39}}, quoting Thomson, George, ''The Prehistoric Aegean'' (N.Y.: Citadel Press, 1965), p.&nbsp;160.</ref>

One common misconception among historians of the Bronze Age such as Stone and Eisler is the notion that the [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|Semites]] were matriarchal while the Indo-Europeans practiced a patriarchal system. An example of this view is found in Stone's ''[[When God Was a Woman]]'',{{Page needed|date=July 2013}} wherein she makes the case that the worship of [[Yahweh]] was an Indo-European invention superimposed on an ancient matriarchal Semitic nation. Evidence from the [[Amorites]] and [[pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic Arabs]], however, indicates that the primitive Semitic family was in fact patriarchal and patrilineal.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

However, not all scholars agree. Anthropologist and Biblical scholar [[Raphael Patai]] writes in ''[[The Hebrew Goddess]]'' that the Jewish religion, far from being pure monotheism, contained from earliest times strong polytheistic elements, chief of which was the cult of [[Asherah]], the mother goddess. A story in the Biblical Book of Judges places the worship of Asherah in the 12th century BC. Originally a [[Canaan]]ite goddess, her worship was adopted by Hebrews who intermarried with Canaanites. She was worshipped in public and was represented by carved wooden poles. Numerous small nude female figurines of clay were found all over ancient Palestine and a seventh-century Hebrew text invokes her aid for a woman giving birth.<ref>{{Harvp|Patai|1990|pp=38–39}}</ref>

[[Shekinah]] is the name of the feminine holy spirit who embodies both divine radiance and compassion. Exemplifying various traits associated with mothers, she comforts the sick and dejected, accompanies the Jews whenever they are exiled, and intercedes with God to exercise mercy rather than to inflict retribution on sinners. While not a creation of the Hebrew Bible, Shekinah appears in a slightly later Aramaic translation of the Bible in the first or second century C.E., according to Patai. Initially portrayed as the presence of God, she later becomes distinct from God, taking on more physical attributes.<ref>{{Harvp|Patai|1990|pp=96–111}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the Indo-Europeans were known to have practiced multiple succession systems, and there is much better evidence of matrilineal customs among the Indo-European [[Celts]] and [[Germanics]] than among any ancient Semitic peoples.{{where|date=July 2022}}

Women ruled [[Sparta]] while the men were often away fighting, or when both kings were incapacitated or too young to rule. [[Gorgo, Queen of Sparta]], was asked by a woman in [[Attica]] "You Spartan women are the only women that lord it over your men", to which Gorgo replied: "Yes, for we are the only women that are mothers of men!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartans*/Lycurgus.html#13.Gorgo|title=Plutarch • Sayings of Spartans — Lycurgus|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=2019-02-21}}</ref>

==== Iron Age to Middle Ages ====
Arising in the period ranging from the [[Iron Age]] to the [[Middle Ages]], several [[northwestern Europe]]an mythologies from the [[Irish mythology|Irish]] (e.g. [[Macha]] and [[Scáthach]]), the [[Brittonic languages|Brittonic]] (e.g. [[Rhiannon]]), and the Germanic (e.g. [[Grendel's mother]] and [[Nerthus]]) contain ambiguous episodes of primal female power which have been interpreted as folk evidence of matriarchal attitudes in [[Iron Age|pre-Christian]] European Iron Age societies. Often transcribed from a retrospective, patriarchal, Romanised, and [[Catholic]] perspective, they hint at a possible earlier era when female power predominated. The first-century historical British figure of [[Boudicca]] indicates that Brittonnic society permitted explicit female autocracy or a form of gender equality which contrasted strongly with the patriarchal Mediterranean civilisation that later overthrew it.{{Citation needed|date=December 2013}}

==== 20th–21st centuries ====
The [[Mosuo]] people are an ethnic group in southwest China. They are considered one of the most well-known matriarchal societies, although many scholars assert that they are rather [[Matrilineality|matrilineal]]. {{as of|2016}}, the sole heirs in the family are still daughters.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |title=The Place In China Where The Women Lead |language=en |website=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/11/26/501012446/the-place-in-china-where-the-women-lead |access-date=2021-05-11}}</ref><ref name=":1">"Mosuo People Maintain Rare Matriarchal Society (2)." Xinhua News Agency – CEIS, Jun 11 2000, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 18 Apr. 2021.</ref> Since 1990, when foreign tourism became permitted, tourists started visiting the Mosuo people.<ref name=":02" /> As pointed out by the Xinhua News Agency, "tourism has become so profitable that many Mosuo families in the area who have opened their homes have become wealthy."<ref name=":1" /> Although this revived their economy and lifted many out of poverty, it also altered the fabric of their society to have outsiders present who often look down on the Mosuo's cultural practices.<ref name=":02" />  

In 1995, in [[Kenya]], according to Emily Wax, [[Umoja, Kenya|Umoja]], a village only for women from one tribe with about 36 residents, was established under a matriarch.<ref name="PlaceWhereWomenRule-WashPost-p1">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/08/AR2005070801775.html Wax, Emily, ''A Place Where Women Rule'', in ''The Washington Post'', July 9, 2005, p.&nbsp;1 (online)], as accessed October 13, 2013.</ref> It was founded on an empty piece of land by women who fled their homes after being raped by British soldiers.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last1=Karimi |first1=Faith |title=She grew up in a community where women rule and men are banned |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/30/africa/samburu-umoja-village-intl-asequals-africa/index.html |work=CNN |date=30 January 2019 }}</ref> They formed a safe-haven in rural Samburu County in northern Kenya.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=In Kenya's Umoja Village, a sisterhood preserves the past, prepares the future|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/kenya-s-umoja-village-sisterhood-preserves-past-prepares-future-n634391|access-date=2021-05-11|website=NBC News|date=September 9, 2016 |language=en}}</ref> Men of the same tribe established a village nearby from which to observe the women's village,<ref name="PlaceWhereWomenRule-WashPost-p1" /> the men's leader objecting to the matriarch's questioning the culture<ref name="PlaceWhereWomenRule-WashPost-p2">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/08/AR2005070801775_2.html Wax, Emily, ''A Place Where Women Rule'', in ''The Washington Post'', July 9, 2005, p.&nbsp;2 (online)], as accessed October 13, 2013.</ref> and men suing to close the women's village.<ref name="PlaceWhereWomenRule-WashPost-p2" /> As of 2019, 48 women, most of whom who have fled gender-based violence like female genital mutilation, assault, rape, and abusive marriages call Umoja home, living with their children in this all female-village.<ref name=":2" /> Many of these women faced stigma in their communities following these attacks and had no choice but to flee.<ref name=":3" /> Others sought to escape from the nearby Samburu community, which practices child marriage and female genital mutilation.<ref name=":3" />  In the village, the women practice "collective economic cooperation."<ref name=":3" /> The sons are obligated to move out when they turn eighteen.<ref name=":2" /> Not only has the Umoja village protected its members, the members have also done extensive work for gender equity in Kenya.<ref name=":3" /> The message of the village has spread outside of Kenya as member "Lolosoli's passion for gender equity in Kenya has carried her to speak on social justice at the United Nations and to participate in an international women's rights conference in South Africa."<ref name=":3" />

The [[Khasi people|Khasi]] people live in [[Northeast India]] in the state of [[Meghalaya]].<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Banerjee |first1=Roopleena |title='Matriarchy' and Contemporary Khasi Society |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |date=2015 |volume=76 |pages=918–930 |jstor=44156662}}</ref> Although largely considered [[Matrilineality|matrilineal]], some women's studies scholars such as Roopleena Banerjee consider the Khasi to be matriarchal.<ref name=":4" /> Banerjee asserts that "to assess and account a matriarchal society through the parameters of the patriarchy would be wrong" and that "we should avoid looking at history only through the colonizer/colonized boundaries."<ref name=":4" /> The Khasi people consist of many clans who trace their lineage through the matriarchs of the families.<ref name=":4" /> A Khasi husband typically moves into his wife's home, and both wife and husband participate equally in raising their children.<ref name=":4" /> A Khasi woman named Passah explains that "[The father] would come to his wife's home late at night... In the morning, he's back at his mother's home to work in the fields," showing how a man's role consists of supporting his wife and family in Khasi society.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Rathnayake|first=Zinara|title=Khasis: India's indigenous matrilineal society|url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210328-why-some-indians-want-more-mens-rights|access-date=2021-05-17|website=www.bbc.com|date=March 29, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Traditionally, the youngest daughter, called the Khadduh, receives and cares for ancestral property.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" /> As of 2021, the Khasi continue to practice many female-led customs, with wealth and property being passed down through the female side of the family.<ref name=":5" />

Spokespersons for various [[indigenous peoples]] at the [[United Nations]] and elsewhere have highlighted the central role of women in their societies, referring to them as matriarchies, in danger of being overthrown by the patriarchy, or as matriarchal in character.<ref>Tamang, Stella, ''Indigenous Affairs'', vols. 1–2, no. 4, p.&nbsp;46.</ref><ref>''Six Nations Women's Traditional Council Fire Report to CEDAW'', p.&nbsp;2.</ref>

== Mythology ==
[[File:Coyolxauhqui 4095977415 b89d64f008-2.jpg|thumb|[[Coyolxauhqui Stone|Large stone disk]] depicting the vanquished Aztec goddess [[Coyolxāuhqui]]. The myth surrounding Coyolxāuhqui and her brother [[Huitzilopochtli]] has been interpreted by some feminist scholars, such as [[Cherríe Moraga]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=West-Duran |first1=Alan |last2=Herrera-Sobek |first2=María |last3=Salgado |first3=César A. |title=Latino and Latina Writers: Cuban and Cuban American authors; Dominican and other authors; Puerto Rican authors. Volume 2 |year=2004 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-684-31294-1 |page=354 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uS3uAAAAMAAJ&q=Coyolxauhqui+matriarchy |access-date=8 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref> as an allegory for a possible real life shift from matriarchy to patriarchy in early [[Mexica]] society. ]]

=== Amazons ===
A legendary matriarchy related by several writers was [[Amazons|Amazon]] society. According to [[Phyllis Chesler]], "in Amazon societies, women were&nbsp;... mothers and their society's only political and religious leaders",<ref>{{harvp|Chesler|2005|pp=335–336}} (italics omitted).</ref> as well as the only warriors and hunters;<ref>{{harvp|Chesler|2005|pp=335–336}}</ref> "queens were elected"<ref>{{harvp|Chesler|2005|p=336}}</ref> and apparently "any woman could aspire to and achieve full human expression."<ref>{{harvp|Chesler|2005|p=336}} (italics omitted)</ref> [[Herodotus]] reported that the [[Sarmatians]] were descendants of Amazons and [[Scythians]], and that their women observed their ancient maternal customs, "frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men". Moreover, said Herodotus, "no girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle".<ref>{{Cite web|title=History of Iran: Histories of Herodotus, Book 4|url=http://www.iranchamber.com/history/herodotus/herodotus_history_book4.php|access-date=2020-08-30|website=www.iranchamber.com}}</ref> Amazons came to play a role in [[Roman historiography]]. [[Julius Caesar]] spoke of the conquest of large parts of Asia by [[Semiramis]] and the Amazons.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} Although Strabo was sceptical about their historicity, the Amazons were taken as historical throughout [[late Antiquity]].<ref>[[Strabo]], 5.504.</ref> Several [[Church Fathers]] spoke of the Amazons as a real people.{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} Medieval authors continued a tradition of locating the Amazons in the North, [[Adam of Bremen]] placing them at the [[Baltic Sea]] and [[Paulus Diaconus]] in the heart of Germania.<ref>[[F. A. Ukert|Ukert, F. A.]], ''Die Amazonen'' (Abhandlungen der philosophisch-philologischen Classe der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1849), 63.</ref>

=== Greece ===
[[Robert Graves]] suggested that a myth displaced earlier myths that had to change when a major cultural change brought patriarchy to replace a matriarchy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=Alisdair G. G. |title=Robert Graves and the classical tradition |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford university press |isbn=978-0-19-873805-3 |series=Classical presences |location=Oxford}}</ref> According to this myth, in [[Greek mythology]], [[Zeus]] is said to have swallowed his pregnant lover, the titan goddess [[Metis (mythology)|Metis]], who was carrying their daughter, [[Athena]]. The mother and child created havoc inside Zeus. Either [[Hermes]] or [[Hephaestus]] split Zeus's head, allowing Athena, in full battle armor, to burst forth from his forehead. Athena was thus described as being "born" from Zeus. The outcome pleased Zeus as it didn't fulfill the prophecy of Themis which (according to Aeschylus) predicted that Zeus will one day bear a son that would overthrow him. {{Citation needed|date=November 2013}}

=== Celtic myth and society ===
{{main|Ancient Celtic women#Matriarchy}}

According to Adler, "there ''is'' plenty of evidence of ancient societies where women held greater power than in many societies today. For example, [[Jean Markale]]'s studies of Celtic societies show that the power of women was reflected not only in myth and legend but in legal codes pertaining to marriage, divorce, property ownership, and the right to rule...although this was overthrown by the patriarchy."<ref>{{harvp|Adler|2006|p=196}} (italics so in original; p.&nbsp;196 n.&nbsp;20 citing Markale, Jean, ''Women of the Celts'' (London: Gordon Cremonesi, 1975)).</ref>

=== Basque myth and society ===
The hypothesis of Basque matriarchism or theory of Basque matriarchism is a theoretical proposal launched by [[Andrés Ortiz-Osés]] that maintains that the existence of a psychosocial structure centered or focused on the matriarchal-feminine archetype (mother / woman, which finds in the archetype of the great Basque mother Mari, her precipitate as a projection of Mother Earth / nature) that "permeates, coagulates and unites the traditional Basque social group in a way that is different from the patriarchal Indo-European peoples".

This mythical matriarchal conception corresponds to the conception of the Basques, clearly reflected in their mythology. The Earth is the mother of the Sun and the Moon, compared to Indo-European patriarchal conceptions, where the sun is reflected as a God, numen or male spirit. Prayers and greetings were dedicated to these two sisters at dawn and dusk, when they returned to the bosom of Mother Earth.

Franz-Karl Mayr, this [[philosopher]] argued that the archetypal background of Basque mythology had to be inscribed in the context of a [[Paleolithic]] dominated by the Great Mother, in which the cycle of [[Mari (goddess)]] and her metamorphoses offers all a typical symbolism of the matriarchal-naturalistic context. According to the archetype of the Great Mother, this is usually related to fertility cults, as in the case of Mari, who is the determinant of fertility-fecundity, the maker of rain or hail, that on whose telluric forces depend the crops, in space and time, life and death, luck (grace) and misfortune.<ref>{{cite book |last1=José Miguel de Barandiarán |title=Euskal Herriko Mitoak |publisher=Gipuzkoako Kutxa |page=63 }}</ref>

=== South America ===
Bamberger (1974) examines several matriarchal myths from South American cultures and concludes that portraying the women from this matriarchal period as immoral often serves to restrain contemporary women in these societies, providing reason for the overthrow by the patriarchy.{{Clarify|date=February 2009}}<ref>Bamberger, Joan, The Myth of Matriarchy: Why Men Rule in Primitive Society, in M. Rosaldo & L. Lamphere, Women, Culture, and Society (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1974), p. 279.</ref>

== In feminist thought ==
{{Feminism sidebar|theory}}
{{For|groups and communities without men|Feminist separatism}}
While ''matriarchy'' has mostly fallen out of use for the anthropological description of existing societies, it remains current as a concept in [[feminism]].<ref name="AppsFLegalTheoryWLSVWR-p9">Weisberg, D. Kelly, ed., ''Applications of Feminist Legal Theory to Women's Lives: Sex, Violence, Work, and Reproduction'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996 ({{ISBN|1-56639-423-6}})), p.&nbsp;9 ("women must organize against patriarchy as a class") but see p.&nbsp;11 ("some radical feminists&nbsp;... opt&nbsp;... for anarchistic, violent methods").</ref><ref name="FStateWelfare-p52">Dale, Jennifer, & Peggy Foster, ''Feminists and State Welfare'' (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986 ({{ISBN|0-7102-0278-4}})), p.&nbsp;52 ("radical feminist theory&nbsp;.... could, indeed, be said to point in the direction of 'matriarchy{{'"}}) and see pp.&nbsp;52–53 (political separatism).</ref>

[[File:Elizabeth Stanton.jpg|thumb|Elizabeth Stanton]]
In [[first-wave feminism|first-wave feminist]] discourse, either [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] or [[Margaret Fuller]] (it is unclear who was first) introduced the concept of matriarchy<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|loc=p.&nbsp;55 & n.&nbsp;15}}, citing Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, ''Address'' (Washington Woman's Rights Convention, 1869), in ''History of Woman Suffrage'', vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;351–353.</ref> and the discourse was joined in by [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]].<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|p=57}}, citing Gage, Matilda Joslyn, ''Woman, Church and State: A Historical Account of the Status of Women through the Christian Ages; with Reminiscences of the Matriarchate'' (Watertown, Mass.: Persephone Press, 1980 (1893)), p.&nbsp;21.</ref> [[Victoria Woodhull]], in 1871, called for men to open the U.S. government to women or a new constitution and government would be formed in a year;<ref>''A Lecture on Constitutional Equality'', also known as ''The Great Secession Speech'', speech to Woman's Suffrage Convention, New York, May 11, 1871, excerpt quoted in {{harvp|Gabriel|1998|pp=86–87}}.</ref> and, on a basis of equality, she ran to be elected president in 1872.<ref>{{harvp|Gabriel|1998|loc=''passim'', esp. pp.&nbsp;54–57}}</ref><ref>Underhill, Lois Beachy, ''The Woman Who Ran for President: The Many Lives of Victoria Woodhull'' (Bridgehampton, N.Y.: Bridge Works, 1st ed. 1995 ({{ISBN|1-882593-10-3}}), ''passim'', esp. ch.&nbsp;8.</ref> [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]], in 1911 and 1914,<ref>The dates are those of two original editions of the same work, both cited herein.</ref> argued for "a woman-centered, or better mother-centered, world"<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|p=61}}, citing {{harvp|Gilman|2001|loc=''passim''}}</ref> and described "government by women".<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|p=62}}, citing {{harvp|Gilman|2001|p=190}}</ref> She argued that a government led by either sex must be assisted by the other,<ref>{{harvp|Gilman|2001|p=177}} and see p.&nbsp;153.</ref> both genders being "useful&nbsp;... and should in our governments be alike used",<ref>{{harvp|Gilman|2001|p=153}}</ref> because men and women have different qualities.<ref>{{harvp|Gilman|2001|pp=153, 177}}</ref>

[[Cultural feminism]] includes "matriarchal worship", according to Prof. James Penner.<ref>Penner, James, ''Pinks, Pansies, and Punks: The Rhetoric of Masculinity in American Literary Culture'' (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2011 ({{ISBN|978-0-253-22251-0}})), p.&nbsp;235.</ref>

In [[list of feminist literature|feminist literature]], matriarchy and patriarchy are not conceived as simple mirrors of each other.<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p287">{{harvp|Eller|1991|p=287}}</ref> While ''matriarchy'' sometimes means "the political rule of women",<ref>{{harvp|Eller|2000|p=12}}</ref> that meaning is often rejected, on the ground that matriarchy is not a mirroring of patriarchy.<ref>{{harvp|Eller|2000|p=12}} (quoting also Mary Daly ("matriarchy 'was not patriarchy spelled with an "m.{{"'"}}, probably – per {{harvp|Eller|2000|loc=p.&nbsp;12 n.&nbsp;3}} – in Daly, Mary, ''Beyond God the Father'', p.&nbsp;94)).</ref> Patriarchy is held to be about power over others while matriarchy is held to be about power from within,<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p287" /> [[Starhawk]] having written on that distinction<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p287" /><ref>Starhawk, ''[[Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics]]'' (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 15th Anniversary ed. 1997 (original 1982) ({{ISBN|0-8070-1037-5}})), ch.&nbsp;1 (original 1982 ed. cited in {{harvp|Eller|1991|p=287}}).</ref> and Adler having argued that matriarchal power is not possessive and not controlling, but is harmonious with nature, arguing that women are uniquely capable of using power without exploitative purposes.{{efn|Adler wrote a matriarchy is "a realm where female things are valued and where power is exerted in non-possessive, non-controlling, and organic ways that are harmonious with nature."<ref>{{harvp|Adler|2006|p=187}}, as quoted in {{harvp|Eller|1991|p=287}}.</ref>}}

For radical feminists, the importance of matriarchy is that "veneration for the female principle&nbsp;... somewhat lightens an oppressive system."<ref>{{harvp|Castro|1990|p=42}}</ref>

[[Feminist utopia]]s are a form of advocacy. According to Tineke Willemsen, "a feminist utopia would&nbsp;... be the description of a place where at least women would like to live."<ref>{{harvp|Willemsen|1997|p=5}}</ref> Willemsen continues, among "type[s] of feminist utopias[,]&nbsp;... [one] stem[s] from feminists who emphasize the differences between women and men. They tend to formulate their ideal world in terms of a society where women's positions are better than men's. There are various forms of matriarchy, or even a utopia that resembles the Greek myth of the Amazons.... [V]ery few modern utopias have been developed in which women are absolute autocrats."<ref>{{harvp|Willemsen|1997|p=6}}. See also {{harvp|Poldervaart|1997|p=182}} ("Tineke Willemsen distinghuishes {{Sic}} in her article three large classes of utopias:&nbsp;... 2) feminists who emphasize the difference [between "women and men&nbsp;... in rights and possibilities"]; in these utopias women have a better position than men or feminine qualities are more valued than masculine ones").</ref>

A minority of feminists, generally [[radical feminism|radical]],<ref name="AppsFLegalTheoryWLSVWR-p9" /><ref name="FStateWelfare-p52" /> have argued that women should govern societies of women and men. In all of these advocacies, the governing women are not limited to mothers:
* In her book ''Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation'', [[Andrea Dworkin]] stated that she wanted women to have their own country, "Womenland,"<ref name="Guardian-TakeNoPrisoners">Quotation: [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/may/13/politics1 ''Take No Prisoners'', in ''The Guardian'', May 13, 2000], as accessed Sep. 6, 2010.</ref> which, comparable to Israel, would serve as a "place of potential refuge".<ref name="Guardian-TakeNoPrisoners" /><ref>Other than quotation: Dworkin, Andrea, ''Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation'' (N.Y.: Free Press, 2000 ({{ISBN|0-684-83612-2}})), p.&nbsp;246 and see pp.&nbsp;248 & 336.</ref> In the ''Palestine Solidarity Review'', Veronica A. Ouma reviewed the book and argued her view that while Dworkin "pays lip service to the egalitarian nature of&nbsp;... [stateless] societies [without hierarchies], she envisions a state whereby women either impose gender equality or a state where women rule supreme above men."<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101208074544/http://psreview.org/content/view/38/99/ Ouma, Veronica A., ''Dworkin's Scapegoating'', in ''Palestine Solidarity Review'' (''PSR''), Fall 2005]}}, as accessed Oct. 21, 2010 (''PSR'' was challenged on its reliability, in [https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=145131 Frantzman, Seth J., ''Do Arabs and Jews Realize How Much They Look Alike?'', in ''The Jerusalem Post'', Jun. 10, 2009, 11:43 p.m. (op-ed opinion)], as accessed May 15, 2011.)</ref>
* [[Starhawk]], in ''[[The Fifth Sacred Thing]]'' (1993), fiction, wrote of "a utopia where women are leading societies but are doing so with the consent of men."<ref>{{harvp|Schönpflug|2008|p=22}}</ref>
* [[Phyllis Chesler]] wrote in ''Women and Madness'' (2005 and 1972) that feminist women must "''dominate'' public and social institutions".<ref>{{harvp|Chesler|2005|p=347}} (italics so in original) and see pp.&nbsp;296, 335–336, 337–338, 340, 341, 345, 346, 347, & 348–349 and see also pp.&nbsp;294–295</ref> She also wrote that women fare better when controlling the means of production<ref>{{harvp|Chesler|2005|p=337}} and see p.&nbsp;340</ref> and that equality with men should not be supported,<ref name="WomenMad-05p338-72p287">{{harvp|Chesler|2005|p=338}}</ref> even if female domination is no more "just"<ref name="WomenMad-05p338-72p287" /> than male domination.<ref name="WomenMad-05p338-72p287" /> On the other hand, in 1985, she was "probably more of a feminist-anarchist&nbsp;... more mistrustful of the organisation of power into large bureaucratic states [than she was in 1972]".<ref>Chesler, Phyllis, in {{harvp|Spender|1985|p=214}} (reply from Phyllis Chesler to Dale Spender).</ref>{{Efn|[[Anarcha-feminism]], a philosophy combining anarchism and feminism}} Between Chesler's 1972 and 2005 editions, [[Dale Spender]] wrote that Chesler "takes [as] a&nbsp;... stand [that]&nbsp;.... [e]quality is a spurious goal, and of no use to women: the only way women can protect themselves is if they ''dominate'' particular institutions and can use them to serve women's interests. Reproduction is a case in point."<ref>{{harvp|Spender|1985|p=151}} (emphasis in original).</ref> Spender wrote Chesler "remarks&nbsp;... women will be superior".<ref>{{harvp|Spender|1985|p=151}}</ref>
* [[Monique Wittig]] authored, as fiction (not as fact), ''[[Les Guérillères]]'',<ref>{{harvp|Wittig|1985|loc=''passim'' and see pp.&nbsp;114–115, 127, 131, & 134–135}}</ref> with her description of an asserted "female State".<ref>{{harvp|Wittig|1985|pp=114–115}}</ref> The work was described by Rohrlich as a "fictional counterpart" to "so-called Amazon societies".<ref>Both quotations: {{harvp|Rohrlich|1984|p=xvii}}.</ref> Scholarly interpretations of the fictional work include that women win a war against men,<ref>Moi, Toril, ''Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory'' (London: Routledge, 2d ed., 2002 ({{ISBN|0-415-28012-5}})), p.&nbsp;78.</ref><ref>Auerbach, Nina, ''Communities of Women: An Idea in Fiction'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978 ({{ISBN|0-674-15168-2}})), p.&nbsp;186.</ref> "reconcil[e]"<ref name="Porter-Fantasy-p267">{{harvp|Porter|1992|p=267}}</ref> with "those men of good will who come to join them",<ref name="Porter-Fantasy-p267" /> exercise feminist autonomy<ref name="Porter-Fantasy-p267"/> through [[polyandry]],<ref>{{harvp|Wittig|1985|p=112}}</ref> decide how to govern,<ref name="Porter-Fantasy-p267" /> and rule the men.<ref>{{harvp|Zerilli|2005|p=80}}, quoting {{harvp|Porter|1992|p=261}}</ref> The women confronting men<ref>{{harvp|Farley|1984|pp=237–238}}</ref> are, according to Tucker Farley, diverse and thus stronger and more united<ref>{{harvp|Farley|1984|p=238}} and see Baruch, Elaine Hoffman, ''Introduction'', in Pt. Four (''Visions of Utopia''), in {{harvp|Rohrlich|1984|p=205}}.</ref> and, continued Farley, permit a "few&nbsp;... men, who are willing to accept a feminist society of primitive communism,&nbsp;... to live."<ref>{{harvp|Farley|1984|p=238}}</ref> Another interpretation is that the author created an {{"'}}open structure' of freedom".<ref>{{harvp|Zerilli|2005|p=80}}, purportedly quoting within the quotation {{harvp|Porter|1992|p=261}}.</ref>
* [[Mary Daly]] wrote of hag-ocracy, "the place we ["women traveling into feminist time/space"] govern",<ref>{{harvp|Daly|1990|p=15}}</ref>{{efn|For another definition of ''hag'' by Mary Daly, see Daly, Mary, with Jane Caputi, ''Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of the English Language'' (London, Great Britain: Women's Press, 1988 ({{ISBN|0-7043-4114-X}})), p.&nbsp;137.}} and of reversing phallocratic rule<ref>{{harvp|Daly|1990|p=xxvi}}</ref> in the 1990s (''i.e.'', when published).<ref>{{harvp|Daly|1990|p=xxxiii}}</ref> She considered equal rights as tokenism that works against sisterhood, even as she supported abortion being legal and other reforms.<ref>{{harvp|Daly|1990|loc=p.&nbsp;375 & fnn. and see p.&nbsp;384}}</ref> She considered her book pro-female and anti-male.<ref>{{harvp|Daly|1990|p=29}}</ref>
* [[Rasa von Werder]] has also long advocated for a return to matriarchy, a restoration of its status before its overthrow by patriarchy, along with associated author [[William Bond (author)|William Bond]] as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://embodimentofgod.com |title=Embodiment of God|publisher=University of Mother God Church |date= |access-date=2022-04-25}}</ref>

Some such advocacies are informed by work on the matriarchies of the past:
* According to Prof. {{ill|Linda Zerilli|it}}, "an ancient matriarchy&nbsp;... [was "in early second-wave feminism"] the lost object of women's freedom."<ref>{{harvp|Zerilli|2005|p=101}}</ref> Prof. Cynthia Eller found widespread acceptance of matriarchal myth during [[second-wave feminism|feminism's second wave]].<ref>{{harvp|Eller|2000|p=3}}</ref> According to Kathryn Rountree, the belief in a prepatriarchal "Golden Age" of matriarchy may have been more specifically about a matrifocal society,<ref>{{harvp|Rountree|2001|p=6}}</ref> although this was believed more in the 1970s than in the 1990s–2000s and was criticized within feminism and within archaeology, anthropology, and theological study as lacking a scholarly basis,<ref>{{harvp|Rountree|2001|pp=5–9 & ''passim''}}</ref> and Prof. [[Harvey Mansfield|Harvey C. Mansfield]] wrote that "the evidence [is]&nbsp;... of males ruling over all societies at almost all times".<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=72}}</ref> Eller said that, other than a few separatist radical lesbian feminists, [[feminist theology|spiritual feminists]] would generously include "a place for men&nbsp;... in which they can be happy and productive, if not necessarily powerful and in control"<ref>{{harvp|Eller|1995|pp=183–184}}</ref> and might have social power as well.<ref>{{harvp|Eller|1995|p=184}}</ref>
* [[Jill Johnston]] envisioned a "return to the former glory and wise equanimity of the matriarchies"<ref name="LesbianNation-p248">Johnston, Jill, ''[[Lesbian Nation: The Feminist Solution]]'' (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1973 (SBN (not ISBN) 671-21433-0)), p.&nbsp;248 and see pp.&nbsp;248–249.</ref> in the future<ref name="LesbianNation-p248" /> and "imagined lesbians as constituting an imaginary radical state, and invoked 'the return to the harmony of statehood and biology....{{'"}}<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130511161913/http://www.law.nyu.edu/ecm_dlv1/groups/public/%40nyu_law_website__journals__review_of_law_and_social_change/documents/documents/ecm_pro_066374.pdf Franklin, Kris, & Sara E. Chinn, ''Lesbians, Legal Theory and Other Superheroes'', in ''Review of Law & Social Change'', vol. XXV, 1999, pp.&nbsp;310–311]}}, as accessed (at a prior URL) October 21, 2010 (citing in n.&nbsp;45 ''Lesbian Nation'', p.&nbsp;15).</ref> Her work inspired efforts at implementation by the [[Lesbian Organization of Toronto]] (LOOT) in 1976–1980<ref>{{harvp|Ross|1995|loc=''passim'', esp. pp.&nbsp;8 & 15–16 & also pp. 19, 71, 111, 204, 205, 212, 219 & 231}}</ref> and in [[Los Angeles]].<ref>{{harvp|Ross|1995|p=204}}, citing {{cite journal |last1=McCoy |first1=Sherry |last2=Hicks |first2=Maureen |title=A Psychological Retrospective on Power in the Contemporary Lesbian-Feminist Community |journal=Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies |date=1979 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=65–69 |doi=10.2307/3346152 |jstor=3346152 }}</ref>
* [[Elizabeth Gould Davis]] believed that a "matriarchal counterrevolution [replacing "a[n old] patriarchal revolution"]&nbsp;... is the only hope for the survival of the human race."<ref>{{harvp|Davis|1971|p=18}}</ref> She believed that "spiritual force",<ref name="1stSex-p339">{{harvp|Davis|1971|p=339}}</ref> "mental and spiritual gifts",<ref name="1stSex-p339" /> and "extrasensory perception"<ref name="1stSex-p339" />{{Efn|[[Extrasensory perception]] (ESP), perception sensed by the mind but not originating through recognized physical senses}} will be more important and therefore that "woman will&nbsp;... predominate",<ref name="1stSex-p339" /> and that it is "about&nbsp;... ["woman" that] the next civilization will&nbsp;... revolve",<ref name="1stSex-p339" /> as in the kind of past that she believed existed.<ref name="1stSex-p339" /> According to critic Prof. Ginette Castro, Elizabeth Gould Davis used the words ''matriarchy'' and ''gynocracy'' "interchangeably"<ref name="AmFeminism-p35">{{harvp|Castro|1990|p=35}} and see pp.&nbsp;26, 27, 32–36, & 42.</ref> and proposed a discourse "rooted in the purest female chauvinism"<ref>{{harvp|Castro|1990|p=36}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Chauvinism]], partisanship that is extreme and unreasoning and in favor of a group}} and seemed to support "a feminist counterattack stigmatizing the patriarchal present",<ref name="AmFeminism-p35" /> "giv[ing]&nbsp;... in to a revenge-seeking form of feminism",<ref name="AmFeminism-p35" /> "build[ing]&nbsp;... her case on the humiliation of men",<ref name="AmFeminism-p35" /> and "asserti[ng]&nbsp;... a specifically feminine nature&nbsp;... [as] morally superior."<ref name="AmFeminism-p35" /> Castro criticized Elizabeth Gould Davis' [[essentialism]] and assertion of superiority as "sexist"<ref name="AmFeminism-p35" /> and "treason".<ref name="AmFeminism-p35" />
* One organization that was named [[The Feminists]] was interested in matriarchy<ref>{{harvp|Echols|1989|pp=183–184}}</ref> and was one of the largest of the radical feminist women's liberation groups of the 1960s.<ref>Tong, Rosemarie Putnam, ''Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction'' (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2d ed. 1998 ({{ISBN|0-8133-3295-8}})), p.&nbsp;23.</ref> Two members wanted "the restoration of female rule",<ref name="DaringBad-p184">{{harvp|Echols|1989|p=184}}, quoting Barbara Mehrhof and Pam Kearon. Full names per {{harvp|Echols|1989|pp=407, 409}} & memberships per {{harvp|Echols|1989|pp=388, 383 & 382}}. See also p.&nbsp;253 ("moved toward&nbsp;... matriarchalism").</ref> but the organization's founder, [[Ti-Grace Atkinson]], would have objected had she remained in the organization, because, according to a historian, "[she] had always doubted that women would wield power differently from men."<ref>{{harvp|Echols|1989|pp=183–184}}; foundership per {{harvp|Echols|1989|p=388}}</ref>
[[File:RobinMorgan profile.jpg|thumb|Robin Morgan]]
* [[Robin Morgan]] wrote of women fighting for and creating a "gynocratic ''world''".<ref>Morgan, Robin, ''Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist'' (N.Y.: Random House, 1st ed. 1977 ({{ISBN|0-394-48227-1}})), p.&nbsp;187 (italics so in original).</ref>
* Adler reported, "if feminists have diverse views on the matriarchies of the past, they also are of several minds on the goals for the future. A woman in the coven of Ursa Maior told me, 'right now I am pushing for women's power in any way I can, but I don't know whether my ultimate aim is a society where all human beings are equal, regardless of the bodies they were born into, or whether I would rather see a society where women had institutional authority.{{'"}}<ref>{{harvp|Adler|2006|p=198}} ("Maior" so in original)</ref>

Some fiction caricatured the current gender hierarchy by describing an inverted matriarchal alternative without necessarily advocating for it. According to Karin Schönpflug, "Gerd Brantenberg's ''[[Egalia's Daughters]]'' is a caricature of powered gender relations which have been completely reversed, with the female sex on the top and the male sex a degraded, oppressed group";<ref>{{harvp|Schönpflug|2008|p=108}}, citing [[Gerd Brantenberg]], ''Egalia's Daughters'' (Norwegian original published in 1977).</ref> "gender inequality is expressed through power inversion"<ref>{{harvp|Schönpflug|2008|p=19}}</ref> and "all gender roles are reversed and women rule over a class of intimidated, effeminate men" compelled into that submissive gender role.<ref name="Karin-p20">{{harvp|Schönpflug|2008|p=20}}</ref> "''Egalia'' is not a typical example of gender inequality in the sense that a vision of a desirable matriarchy is created; ''Egalia'' is more a caricature of male hegemony by twisting gender hierarchy but not really offering a 'better world.{{'"}}<ref name="Karin-p20" /><ref>''Egalia's Daughters'' as fiction: [http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_bks&q=Egalia%27s+Daughters&fq=dt%3Abks ''WorldCat'' entry], as accessed August 29, 2012.</ref>

On egalitarian matriarchy,<ref>[http://www.hagia.de/de/matriarchy.html ''Matriarchal Studies'' (International Academy HAGIA)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719034836/http://www.hagia.de/de/matriarchy.html |date=July 19, 2011 }}, as accessed January 30, 2011.</ref> [[Heide Göttner-Abendroth]]'s International Academy for Modern Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality (HAGIA) organized conferences in [[Luxembourg]] in 2003<ref>[http://www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/1st_congress_submenu.html 1st World Congress on Matriarchal Studies], also known as [http://www.goettner-abendroth.de/en/index.php Societies in Balance] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217062239/http://www.goettner-abendroth.de/en/index.php |date=February 17, 2011 }}, both as accessed January 29, 2011.</ref> and [[Texas]] in 2005,<ref>[http://www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/ Societies of Peace: 2nd World Congress on Matriarchal Studies (home page)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218072003/http://second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/ |date=December 18, 2014 }}, as accessed January 29, 2011.</ref><ref>For a review of the conferences, esp. that of 2005, by a participant, see [http://matriarchy.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=83 Mukhim, Patricia, ''Khasi Matriliny Has Many Parallels'', October 15, 2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006090347/http://matriarchy.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=83 |date=October 6, 2014 }}, as accessed February 6, 2011 (also published in ''The Statesman'' (India), October 15, 2005).</ref> with papers published.<ref>{{harvp|Goettner-Abendroth|2009a|loc=''passim''}}</ref> Göttner-Abendroth argued that "matriarchies are all egalitarian at least in terms of gender—they have no gender hierarchy&nbsp;.... [, that, f]or many matriarchal societies, the social order is completely egalitarian at both local and regional levels",<ref>{{harvp|Goettner-Abendroth|2009b|p=23}}</ref> that, "for our own path toward new egalitarian societies, we can gain&nbsp;... insight from&nbsp;... ["tested"] matriarchal patterns",<ref>{{harvp|Goettner-Abendroth|2009b|loc=p.&nbsp;25 and see p.&nbsp;24}} and, in {{harvp|Goettner-Abendroth|2009a|loc=''Introduction'' & pts. I & VIII}}</ref> and that "matriarchies are not abstract ''utopias'', constructed according to philosophical concepts that could never be implemented."<ref>{{harvp|Goettner-Abendroth|2009b|p=25}} (emphasis so in original).</ref>

According to Eller, "a deep distrust of men's ability to adhere to"<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p290">{{harvp|Eller|1991|p=290}}</ref> future matriarchal requirements may invoke a need "to retain at least some degree of female hegemony to insure against a return to patriarchal control",<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p290" /> "feminists&nbsp;... [having] the understanding that female dominance is better for society—and better for men—than the present world order",<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p291n27">{{harvp|Eller|1991|p=291}}</ref> as is equalitarianism. On the other hand, Eller continued, if men can be trusted to accept equality, probably most feminists seeking future matriarchy would accept an equalitarian model.<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p291n27"/>

"Demographic[ally]",<ref name="MythMatriarchalPre-p10">{{harvp|Eller|2000|p=10}} (whether author's data global unspecified)</ref> "feminist matriarchalists run the gamut"<ref name="MythMatriarchalPre-p10" /> but primarily are "in white, well-educated, middle-class circles";<ref name="MythMatriarchalPre-p10" /> many of the adherents are "religiously inclined"<ref name="MythMatriarchalPre-p10" /> while others are "quite secular".<ref name="MythMatriarchalPre-p10" />

Biology as a ground for holding either males or females superior over the other has been criticized as invalid, such as by Andrea Dworkin<ref>[http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/WarZoneChaptIIID.html Dworkin, Andrea, ''Biological Superiority: The World's Most Dangerous and Deadly Idea'' (1977), from Dworkin, Andrea, ''Letters From a War Zone: Writings 1976–1989'', Pt. III, ''Take Back the Day''], as accessed December 25, 2010 (first published in ''Heresies No. 6 on Women and Violence'', vol. 2, no. 2 (Summer 1978)).</ref> and by Robin Morgan.<ref>Morgan, Robin, ''The Demon Lover: On the Sexuality of Terrorism'' (N.Y.: Norton, 1989 ({{ISBN|0-393-30677-1}}) (rev. ed. 2000 ({{ISBN|0-7434-5293-3}}))), p.&nbsp;27 (pagination per edition at Amazon.com).</ref> A claim that women have unique characteristics that prevent women's assimilation with men has been apparently rejected by Ti-Grace Atkinson.<ref>Badinter, Elisabeth, trans. Julia Borossa, ''Dead End Feminism'' (Polity, 2006 ({{ISBN|0-7456-3381-1}} & {{ISBN|978-0-7456-3381-7}})), p.&nbsp;32, in [https://books.google.com/books?id=of1pH73sNFYC&dq=%28%22female+nation%22+OR+%22female+nationalism%22%29+AND+%28%22Ti-Grace+Atkinson%22+OR+%22Atkinson%2C+Ti-Grace%22%29&pg=PA32 ''Google Books''], as accessed December 4, 2010 (no source cited for Ti-Grace Atkinson's statement); ''Amazon Continues Odyssey'', in ''off our backs'', December, 1979 (interview) (mentioning "female nationalism" (relevant herein insofar as the female nationalism is matriarchal) & women as nation); Atkinson, Ti-Grace, ''Amazon Odyssey'' (N.Y.: Links, 1974 (SBN (not ISBN) 0-8256-3023-1)) (may preclude female nationalism (relevant herein insofar as female nationalism is matriarchal)); also there exists (not read by this Wikipedia editor) Atkinson, Ti-Grace, ''Le Nationalisme Feminin'', in ''Nouvelle Questions Feministes'' 6–7, Spring 1984, pp.&nbsp;35–54 (French) (Eng. trans., ''Female Nationalism'' (unpublished), was held by author) (relevant herein insofar as female nationalism is matriarchal) (cited by {{cite journal |last1=Ringelheim |first1=Joan |title=Women and the Holocaust: A Reconsideration of Research |journal=Signs |date=1985 |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=741–761 |doi=10.1086/494181 |jstor=3174312 |s2cid=144580658 }} ([§] ''Viewpoint'') (also in Rittner, Carol, & John K. Roth, eds., ''Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust'' (N.Y.: Paragon House, 1993), pp.&nbsp;373–418) & by Weiss, Penny A., & Marilyn Friedman, ''Feminism & Community'' (Temple University Press, 1995 ({{ISBN|1-56639-277-2}} & {{ISBN|978-1-56639-277-8}}))), p.&nbsp;330.</ref> On the other hand, not all advocates based their arguments on biology or essentialism.

A criticism by Mansfield of choosing who governs according to [[gender or sex]] is that the best qualified people should be chosen, regardless of gender or sex.<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|pp=241–242}}, citing Plato, ''Republic''.</ref> On the other hand, Mansfield considered merit insufficient for office, because a legal right granted by a sovereign (''e.g.'', a king), was more important than merit.<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|loc=pp.&nbsp;173–174 & nn.&nbsp;14, 16–17, & 19}}, citing Hobbes, ''Leviathan'', ch.&nbsp;10, 14–15, & 21, [[Tuck, Richard]], ''Natural Rights Theories'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), ch.&nbsp;6, & Tarcov, Nathan, ''Locke's Education for Liberty'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), p.&nbsp;38.</ref>

Diversity within a proposed community can, according to Becki L. Ross, make it especially challenging to complete forming the community.<ref>{{harvp|Ross|1995|p=208}}</ref> However, some advocacy includes diversity, in the views of Dworkin<ref name="Guardian-TakeNoPrisoners"/> and Farley.<ref>{{harvp|Farley|1984|p=238}} (respecting Wittig, Monique, ''Les Guérillères'').</ref>

Prof. [[Christine Stansell]], a feminist, wrote that, for feminists to achieve state power, women must democratically cooperate with men. "Women must take their place with a new generation of brothers in a struggle for the world's fortunes. Herland, whether of virtuous matrons or daring sisters, is not an option... [T]he well-being and liberty of women cannot be separated from democracy's survival."<ref>{{cite book | last=Stansell | first=Christine | author-link=Christine Stansell | title=The Feminist Promise: 1792 to the Present | location=N.Y. | publisher=Modern Library (Random House) | edition=1st |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-679-64314-2 | page=394}}</ref> ([[Herland (novel)|''Herland'']] was feminist utopian fiction by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1911, featuring a community entirely of women except for three men who seek it out,<ref>Bartkowski, Frances, ''Feminist Utopias'' (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989 ({{ISBN|0-8032-1205-4}})), ch.&nbsp;1.</ref> strong women in a matriarchal utopia<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|p=48}}</ref> expected to last for generations,<ref>{{harvp|Schönpflug|2008|p=21}} and see p.&nbsp;20–21.</ref> demonstrated a marked era of peace and personal satisfaction, although Charlotte Perkins Gilman was herself a feminist advocate of society being gender-integrated and of women's freedom.)<ref>Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, ''What is "Feminism"?'', in ''The Sunday Herald'', vol. CXL, no. 65, September 3, 1916 (Extra ed.), [§] ''Magazine'', p.&nbsp;[7] [of §], of ''The Boston Herald'' (Boston, Mass.) (on genderal integration: "essential duty of the female is&nbsp;... in choosing a father for her children" & "women will always love men", both per col.&nbsp;2, & "closer union, deeper attachment between men and women", per col.&nbsp;3; on freedom: "[women's] full economic independence.... [and] freedom now allowed our girls", per col.&nbsp;1, "freedom" (several references), per col.&nbsp;2, & "feminism&nbsp;.... [will] set free four-fifths of its labor" & "comparative freedom of action possible to women today [1916]", both per col.&nbsp;3) (microfilm (Bell & Howell)).</ref>

Other criticisms of matriarchy are that it could result in reverse sexism or discrimination against men, that it is opposed by most people including most feminists,{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} or that many women do not want leadership positions.{{citation needed|reason=more sources needed; [[WP:EXTRAORDINARY]], [[WP:BIASEDSOURCES]]|date=March 2023}}{{efn|"Women do not run for office as readily as men do, nor do most women, it seems, call on them to run. It seems that they do not have the same desire to 'run' things as men, to use the word in another political sense that like the first includes standing out in front.... Women are partisan, like men; hence they are political, like men. But not to the same degree. They will readily sail into partisan conflict, but they are not so ready to take the lead and make themselves targets of partisan hostility (though they do write provocative books)."<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|pp=80–81}}</ref> [A] "study&nbsp;.... traces the gender gap&nbsp;... to 'participatory factors,' such as education and income, that give men greater advantages in civic skills, enabling them to participate politically"<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|pp=79–80}}</ref> "[I]n politics and in other public situations, he ["the manly man"] willingly takes responsibility when others hang back.... His wife and children&nbsp;... are weaker",<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=17}}</ref> "manliness&nbsp;... is aggression that develops an assertion, a cause it espouses"...<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|loc=p. 49 and see also pp. 170–171 & 204–206}}</ref> "a woman&nbsp;.... may have less ambition or a different ambition, but being a political animal like a man, she too likes to rule, if in her way".<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=161}}</ref> See also {{harvp|Schaub|2006}}.{{citation needed|reason=These sources are seriously dated, while historical context is fine, this could use some fixing, per [[WP:BIASEDSOURCES]]|date=March 2023}}}} governing takes women away from family responsibilities, women are too likely to be unable to serve politically because of menstruation and pregnancy,<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=195}}</ref> public affairs are too sordid for women<ref>{{harvp|Donovan|2000|p=30}}, citing [[Sarah Grimké|Grimké, Sarah M.]], ''Letters on Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman'' (N.Y.: Burt Franklin, 1970 (1838)), p.&nbsp;81 (objecting to women "participating in government", "reflecting perhaps the Victorian notion that public affairs were too sordid for women").</ref> and would cost women their respect<ref name="PoisoningMinds-pp424-425">{{harvp|Herzog|1998|pp=424–425}}</ref> and femininity (apparently including fertility),<ref>{{harvp|Richards|1997|p=120}}, but see pp.&nbsp;120–121.</ref> superiority is not traditional,<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=72}} ("the evidence [is]&nbsp;... of males ruling over all societies at almost all times" & "males&nbsp;... have dominated all politics we know of") & 58 ("every previous society, including our democracy up to now, has been some kind of patriarchy, permeated by stubborn, self-insistent manliness" (italics omitted)) and see p.&nbsp;66 (patriarchy as "based on manliness, not merely those governments staffed by males", applicability depending on the antecedent for "here").</ref>{{Efn|"Athenians were extreme, but almost no Greeks or Romans thought women should participate in government. There was no approved public forum for ''any'' kind of women's self-expression, not even in the arts and religion [perhaps except "priestesses"]."<ref>{{harvp|Ruden|2010|p=80}} (emphasis in original)</ref><ref>Athenians discussed in the context of play by Aristophanes, {{harvp|Ruden|2010|pp=78–80}}</ref>}} women lack the political capacity and authority men have,{{efn|"[according to] Aristotle&nbsp;....[,] [a]s women do not have the authority, the political capacity, of men, they are, as it were, elbowed out of politics and ushered into the household.... Meanwhile, the male rules because of his greater authority".<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=210}}</ref>}} it is impractical because of a shortage of women with the ability to govern at that level of difficulty<ref name="PoisoningMinds-pp424-425" /> as well as the desire and ability to wage war,{{efn|"ability to fight&nbsp;.... is an important claim to rule&nbsp;..., and it is the culmination of the aggressive manly stereotype we are considering", "who can reasonably deny that women are not as accomplished as men in battle either in spirit or in physique?&nbsp;.... Conservatives say that this proves that women are not the same as men", & "manliness is best shown in war, the defense of one's country at its most difficult and dangerous"<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=75}}</ref> "there might come a point when&nbsp;... stronger persons would have to be fought [by women] rather than merely told off.... The very great majority of women would take a pass on the opportunity to be GI Jane. In the NATO countries where women are allowed in combat units they form only 1 percent of the complement.... Whatever their belief about equality, women might reasonably decide they are needed more elsewhere than in combat"<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=76}}</ref>}}{{efn|''GI Jane'' is 'a female member of a military'.<ref>''Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang'' (N.Y.: Random House, 1st ed. 1994 ({{ISBN|0-394-54427-7}})), vol. 1, p.&nbsp;892, col.&nbsp;2 (earliest example dated 1944).</ref>}}{{Efn|[[NATO]], North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which provides collective military defense for member nations}} women are less aggressive, or less often so, than are men<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|pp=63–64}}</ref> and politics is aggressive,<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=62}}</ref> women legislating would not serve men's interests<ref name="PoisoningMinds-pp424-425" /><ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=269}}</ref><ref>Not absolutely but relatively so: {{harvp|Mansfield|2006|loc=p.&nbsp;80 n.&nbsp;51}} ("successful ambition in women [''i.e.'', "women holding office"] makes them more womanish in the sense of representing women's views").</ref> or would serve only petty interests,<ref name="PoisoningMinds-pp424-425" /> it is contradicted by current science on genderal differences,<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=50}} ("our science rather clumsily confirms the stereotype about manliness, the stereotype that stands stubbornly in the way of the gender-neutral society") and see pp.&nbsp;43–49.</ref> it is unnatural,<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|pp=205–206}}</ref><ref>Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth, ''The Praxis of Coequal Discipleship'', in Horsley, Richard A., ed., ''Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society'' (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press Intntl., 1997 ({{ISBN|1-56338-217-2}})), pp.&nbsp;238–239 (probably from Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth, ''In Memory of Her'' (Crossroad Publishing, 1983) & edited), quoting Aristotle (''Politics'' I.1254b) ("the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject").</ref>{{efn|"Mrs. Woodhull offers herself in apparent good faith as a candidate, and perhaps she has a remote impression, or rather hope, that she may be elected, but it seems that she is rather in advance of her time. The public mind is not yet educated to the pitch of universal woman's rights" ... "At present man, in his affection for and kindness toward the weaker sex, is disposed to accord her any reasonable number of privileges. Beyond that stage he pauses, because there seems to him to be something which is unnatural in permitting her to share the turmoil, the excitement, the risks of competition for the glory of governing."}}<ref>{{harvp|Herzog|1998|p=440}}</ref> and, in the views of a playwright and a novelist, "women cannot govern on their own."<ref>{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=131}}, citing [[Oscar Wilde]] (playwright, per p.&nbsp;126), and [[Henry James]] (novelist, per p.&nbsp;127).</ref> On the other hand, another view is that "women have 'empire' over men"<ref name="Manliness-p195">{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|p=195}}, citing [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], per pp.&nbsp;194–195.</ref> because of nature and "men&nbsp;... are actually obeying" women.<ref name="Manliness-p195" />

Pursuing a future matriarchy would tend to risk sacrificing feminists' position in present social arrangements, and many feminists are not willing to take that chance, according to Eller.<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p290" /> "Political feminists tend to regard discussions of what utopia would look like as a good way of setting themselves up for disappointment", according to Eller,<ref name="LivingLapGoddess-p207">{{harvp|Eller|1995|p=207}}</ref> and argue that immediate political issues must get the highest priority.<ref name="LivingLapGoddess-p207" />

"Matriarchists", as typified by male-conceived [[comic book]] character [[Wonder Woman]], were criticized by [[Kathie Sarachild]], [[Carol Hanisch]], and some others.<ref>Siegel, Deborah, ''Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild'' (N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007 ({{ISBN|978-1-4039-8204-9}})), p.&nbsp;65.</ref>

== In religious thought ==

=== Exclusionary ===
Some theologies and theocracies limit or forbid women from being in civil government or public leadership or forbid them from voting,<ref>"Holy Scripture inculcates for women a sphere higher than and apart from that of public life; because as women they find a full measure of duties, cares and responsibilities and are unwilling to bear additional burdens unsuited to their physical organization.", a "signed&nbsp;... petition against female suffrage" (January, 1871), in {{harvp|Gabriel|1998|p=83}}, citing ''The Press—Philadelphia'', January 14, 1871, p.&nbsp;8.</ref> effectively criticizing and forbidding matriarchy. Within none of the following religions is the respective view necessarily universally held:
* In [[Islam]], some Muslim scholars hold a view that female political leadership should be restricted, according to {{Interlanguage link|Anne Sofie Roald|lt=Anne Sofie Roald|no|Anne Sofie Roald}}.<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=185}}</ref> The restriction has been attributed to a [[hadith]] of [[Muhammad]],<ref name="harvp|Roald|2001|pp=186–187">{{harvp|Roald|2001|pp=186–187}}</ref>{{efn|"Koranic verse 4: 34&nbsp;... has been used to denounce female leadership"<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|pp=189–190}}</ref> ("4: 34" spaced so in original), but the verse may apply to family life rather than to politics.<ref name="harvp|Roald|2001|p=190">{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=190}}</ref> {{harvp|Roald|2001|pp=189–190}} cites, respectively, Badawi, Jamal, ''Gender Equity in Islam: Basic Principles'' (Indianapolis: American Trust Publications, 1995), p.&nbsp;38 & perhaps ''passim'', and Roald, Anne Sofie, & Pernilla Ouis, ''Lyssna på männen: att leva i en patriarkalisk muslimsk kontext'', in ''Kvinnovetenskaplig Tidskrift'', pp.&nbsp;91–108 (1997).}} the founder and last prophet of Islam. The hadith says, according to Roald, "a people which has a woman as leader will never prosper."<ref name="harvp|Roald|2001|pp=186–187"/>{{efn|Another translation is, "a people which has a woman as a leader will not succeed."<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=188}}</ref> The 2001 author's paraphrase of the hadith, "the people who have a female leader will not succeed", is at {{harvp|Roald|2001|p=185}}.}} The hadith's transmission, context, and meaning have been questioned, wrote Roald.<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|pp=186–189}}</ref> According to Roald, the prohibition has also been attributed as an extension of a ban on women leading prayers "in mixed gatherings". Possibly, Roald noted, the hadith applies only against being head of state and not other high office.<ref name="WomenInIslam-p196">{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=196}}</ref> One source, wrote Roald, would allow a woman to "occupy every position except that of ''khalīfa'' (the leader of all Sunni Muslims)."<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|pp=196–197}}</ref> One exception to the head-of-state prohibition was accepted without a general acceptance of women in political leadership, Roald reported.<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|pp=185–186}}</ref> Political activism at lower levels may be more acceptable to Islamist women than top leadership positions, said Roald.<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|loc=p.&nbsp;186 & ch.&nbsp;8, ''passim''}}</ref> The [[Muslim Brotherhood]] has stated that women may not be president or head of state but may hold other public offices but, "as for judiciary office,&nbsp;.... [t]he majority of jurispudents&nbsp;... have forbidden it completely."<ref>[http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=5810&ref=search.php Ikhwan web, ''Muslim Brotherhood on Muslim women in Islamic Society'' (October 29, 2005) (trans.)], as accessed March 5, 2011, [§] ''The Woman's Right to Vote, Be Elected and Occupy Public and Governmental Posts.'', [sub§] ''Thirdly, Women's Holding of Public Office''.</ref> In a study of 82 Islamists in Europe, according to Roald, 80% said women could not be state leaders but 75% said women could hold other high positions.<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=198}} (for study details, see {{harvp|Roald|2001|loc=ch.&nbsp;3}}, ''e.g.'', quantity of 82 per p.&nbsp;64).</ref> In 1994, the Muslim Brotherhood said that "social circumstances and traditions" may justify gradualism in the exercise of women's right to hold office (below head of state).<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=197}}, quoting The Muslim Brotherhood, ''The Role of Women in Islamic Society According to the Muslim Brotherhood'' (London: International Islamic Forum, 1994), 14.</ref> Whether the Muslim Brothers still support that statement is unclear.<ref>The document stating it was not available at its [http://www.ikhwanweb.com/search.php? official English-language website advanced search page], as accessed March 5, 2011 (search for "Role of Women in Islamic Society" without quotation marks yielding no results), but a document with similar relevant effect is [http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=5810&ref=search.php Ikhwan web, ''Muslim Brotherhood on Muslim women in Islamic Society'' (October 29, 2005) (trans.)], as accessed March 5, 2011 ("social circumstances and traditions" as justifying gradualism, per [§] ''A General Remark'').</ref> As reported in 1953, Roald reported later, "Islamic organizations held a conference in the office of the Muslim Brothers&nbsp;.... [and] claim[ed]&nbsp;... that it had been proven that political rights for women were contrary to religion".<ref>{{harvp|Roald|2001|p=34}}, citing Shafiq, Duriyya, ''al-Kitab al-abiyad lil-huquq al-mar'a al-misriyya'' (''The White Paper on the Rights of the Egyptian Woman'') (Cairo: n.p., 1953) (bibliographic information partly per {{harvp|Roald|2001|loc=p.&nbsp;25 n.&nbsp;27}})</ref> Some nations have specific bans. In [[Iran#Government and politics|Iran]] at times, according to Elaheh Rostami Povey, women have been forbidden to fill some political office roles because of law or because of judgments made under the Islamic religion.<ref>Rostami Povey, Elaheh, ''Feminist Contestations of Institutional Domains in Iran'', in ''Feminist Review'', no. 69, pp.&nbsp;49 & 53 (Winter, 2001).</ref><ref>[http://www.arabinsight.org/aiarticles/181.pdf Al-Mohamed, Asmaa, ''Saudi Women's Rights: Stuck at a Red Light'' (Arab Insight (World Security Institute), January 8, 2008)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704015630/http://www.arabinsight.org/aiarticles/181.pdf |date=July 4, 2008 }}, p.&nbsp;46, as accessed December 28, 2010.</ref> According to [[Steven Pinker]], in a 2001–2007 [[Gallup (company)|Gallup poll]] of 35 nations having 90% of the world's Muslims, "substantial majorities of both sexes in all the major Muslim countries say that women should be allowed to vote without influence from men&nbsp;... and to serve in the highest levels of government."<ref>Pinker, Steven, ''The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined'' (N.Y.: Viking, hardback 2011 ({{ISBN|978-0-670-02295-3}})), pp.&nbsp;366–367 and see pp.&nbsp;414–415.</ref>
* In [[Rabbinical Judaism]], among [[Orthodox Judaism|orthodox]] leaders, a position, beginning before Israel became a modern state, has been that for women to hold public office in Israel would threaten the state's existence, according to educator [[Tova Hartman]],<ref>{{harvp|Hartman|2007|p=105}}, attributing the argument to [[Abraham Isaac Kook|Rav Kook]], or Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook; "a significant spiritual leader of the ["early twentieth century"]", {{harvp|Hartman|2007|p=101}}, citing, at {{harvp|Hartman|2007|pp=101–102}}, Kook, Rav, ''Open Letter to the Honorable Committee of the "Mizrahi" Association'' (1919) ("In the Torah, in the Prophets and in the Writings, in the Halacha and in the Aggadah, we hear&nbsp;... that the duty of fixed public service falls upon men.").</ref> who reports the view has "wide consensus".<ref>{{harvp|Hartman|2007|p=106}}</ref> When Israel ratified the international women's equality agreement known as [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women|CEDAW]], according to Marsha Freeman, it reserved nonenforcement for any religious communities that forbid women from sitting on religious courts.<ref>{{harvp|Freeman|2003|pp=59 & 65}}</ref> According to Freeman, "the tribunals that adjudicate marital issues are by religious law and by custom entirely male."<ref>{{harvp|Freeman|2003|p=65}} (the tribunals are discussed in the context of "the marital law regime in each religion", including Judaism)</ref> {{"'}}Men's superiority' is a fundamental tenet in Judaism", according to Irit Umanit.<ref>{{harvp|Umanit|2003|p=133}}</ref> According to Freeman, [[Likud|Likud party]]-led "governments have been less than hospitable to women's high-level participation."<ref>{{harvp|Freeman|2003|p=60}}</ref>
* In [[Buddhism]], according to Karma Lekshe Tsomo, some hold that "the Buddha allegedly hesitated to admit women to the Saṅgha&nbsp;...."<ref>{{harvp|Tsomo|1999|pp=6–7}}</ref> because their inclusion would hasten the demise of the monastic community and the very teachings of Buddhism itself. "In certain Buddhist countries—Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand—women are categorically denied admission to the Saṅgha, Buddhism's most fundamental institution", according to Tsomo.<ref name="MahaprajapatiLegacy-p5">{{harvp|Tsomo|1999|p=5}}</ref> Tsomo wrote, "throughout history, the support of the Saṅgha has been actively sought as a means of legitimation by those wishing to gain and maintain positions of political power in Buddhist countries."<ref name="MahaprajapatiLegacy-p5" />
* Among [[Hindu]]s in India, the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]], "India's most extensive all-male Hindu nationalist organization,"<ref name="Bacchetta_157">{{harvp|Bacchetta|2002|p=157}}</ref>{{Efn|Although India is majority Hindu, it is officially secular, per {{harvp|Bacchetta|2002|p=157}}.}} has debated whether women can ever be Hindu nationalist political leaders<ref name="HinduNatnlistW-p168">{{harvp|Bacchetta|2002|p=168}}</ref> but without coming to a conclusion, according to Paola Bacchetta.<ref name="HinduNatnlistW-p168" /> The [[Rashtriya Sevika Samiti]], a counterpart organization composed of women,<ref name="HinduNatnlistW-p168" /> believes that women can be Hindu nationalist political leaders<ref name="HinduNatnlistW-p168" /> and has trained two in [[Parliament of India|Parliament]],<ref>{{harvp|Bacchetta|2002|p=168}} (the 2 being [[Uma Bharti|Uma Bharati]] and [[Sadhvi Rithambara]], both associated with the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP)), all according to Bacchetta.</ref> but considers women only as exceptions,<ref>{{harvp|Bacchetta|2002|loc=p.&nbsp;168 & n.&nbsp;76}}, citing Kelkar, Kakshmibai, ''Stri-Ek Urja Kendra: Strivishayak Vicharon Ka Sankalan'' (Nagpur: Sevika Prakashan, n.d.), ch.&nbsp;2.</ref> the norm for such leadership being men.<ref name="HinduNatnlistW-p168" />
[[File:John Knox statue, Haddington.jpg|thumb|John Knox]]
* In [[Protestantism|Protestant Christianity]], considered only historically, in 1558, [[John Knox]] ([[Mary, Queen of Scots|Maria Stuart]]'s subject) wrote ''[[The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women|The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women]]''.<ref>{{harvp|de Abreu|2003|p=167}}</ref> According to Scalingi, the work is "perhaps the best known analysis of gynecocracy"<ref name="ScepterDistaff-Historian-p60" /> and Knox was "the most notorious"<ref name="ScepterDistaff-Historian-p60" /> writer on the subject.<ref name="ScepterDistaff-Historian-p60" /> According to an 1878 edition, Knox's objection to any women reigning and having "empire"{{efn|"I am assured that God hath reueled to some in this our age, that it is more then a monstre in nature, that a woman shall reigne and haue empire aboue man."<ref name="1stBlast-Gutenberg-ebk">{{harvp|Knox|1878}} (italicization and boldface, if any, removed).</ref>}} over men was theological<ref name="Knox_1878">{{harvp|Knox|1878}}</ref> and it was against nature for women to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city.{{efn|"To promote a woman to beare rule, superioritie, dominion or empire aboue any realme, nation, or citie, is repugnant to nature, contumelie to God, a thing most contrarious to his reueled will and approued ordinance, and finallie it is the subuersion of good order, of all equitie and iustice[.]"<ref name="Knox_1878"/>}} Susan M. Felch said that Knox's argument was partly grounded on a statement of the [[Paul the Apostle|apostle Paul]] against women teaching or usurping authority over men.<ref>{{harvp|Felch|1995|p=806}}</ref> According to Maria Zina Gonçalves de Abreu, Knox argued that a woman being a national ruler was unnatural<ref name="Abreu_169">{{harvp|de Abreu|2003|p=169}}</ref> and that women were unfit and ineligible for the post.<ref name="Abreu_169"/> Kathryn M. Brammall said Knox "considered the rule of female monarchs to be anathema to good government"<ref>{{harvp|Brammall|1996|p=19}}</ref> and that Knox "also attacked those who obeyed or supported female leaders",<ref name="MonstrousMetamorphosis-16CJ-p20">{{harvp|Brammall|1996|p=20}}</ref> including men.<ref name="MonstrousMetamorphosis-16CJ-p20" /> Robert M. Healey said that Knox objected to women's rule even if men accepted it.<ref>{{harvp|Healey|1994|p=376}}</ref> On whether Knox personally endorsed what he wrote, according to Felch, [[Jasper Ridley (historian)|Jasper Ridley]], in 1968, argued that even Knox may not have personally believed his stated position but may have merely pandered to popular sentiment,<ref>Ridley, Jasper, ''John Knox'' (N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1968), p.&nbsp;267, as cited in {{harvp|Felch|1995|p=805}}</ref> itself a point disputed by [[W. Stanford Reid]].<ref>Reid, W. Stanford, ''Trumpeter of God: A Biography of John Knox'' (N.Y.: Scribner, 1974), p.&nbsp;145, as cited in {{harvp|Felch|1995|p=805}}</ref> On the popularity of Knox's views, Patricia-Ann Lee said Knox's "fierce attack on the legitimacy of female rule&nbsp;... [was one in which] he said&nbsp;... little that was unacceptable&nbsp;... to most of his contemporaries",<ref>{{harvp|Lee|1990|p=242}}</ref> although Judith M. Richards disagreed on whether the acceptance was quite so widespread.<ref name="PromoteWBeareRule-16CJ-p116-n45n46">{{harvp|Richards|1997|p=116}}</ref> According to David Laing's ''Preface'' to Knox's work, Knox's views were agreed with by some people at the time, the ''Preface'' saying, "[Knox's] views were in harmony with those of his colleagues&nbsp;... [Goodman, Whittingham, and Gilby]".<ref>Laing, David, ''Preface'' (from extract), in {{harvp|Knox|1878}}</ref> Writing in agreement with Knox was [[Christopher Goodman]], who, according to Lee, "considered the woman ruler to be a monster in nature, and used&nbsp;... scriptural argument to prove that females were barred&nbsp;... from any political power",<ref>{{harvp|Lee|1990|pp=250, 249}}, citing Goodman, Christopher, ''How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyd'' (N.Y.: reprint, 1931, originally 1558) (chap. on gynecocracy).</ref> even if, according to Richards, the woman was "virtuous".<ref>{{harvp|Richards|1997|p=117}}</ref> Some views included conditionality; while [[John Calvin]] said, according to Healey, "that government by a woman was a deviation from the original and proper order of nature, and therefore among the punishments humanity incurred for original sin".<ref>{{harvp|Healey|1994|pp=372, 373}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Original sin]], in Christianity, a state of sin, or violation of God's will, due to Adam's rebellion in the Garden of Eden}} Nonetheless, Calvin would not always question a woman's right to inherit rule of a realm or principality.<ref>{{harvp|Healey|1994|pp=372–373}}</ref> [[Heinrich Bullinger]], according to Healey, "held that rule by a woman was contrary to God's law but cautioned against [always] using that reason to oppose such rule".<ref>{{harvp|Healey|1994|p=373}}</ref> According to Richards, Bullinger said women were normally not to rule.<ref>{{harvp|Richards|1997|p=115}}</ref> Around 1560, Calvin, in disagreeing with Knox, argued that the existence of the few women who were exceptions showed that theological ground existed for their exceptionalism.<ref>"There were occasionally women so endowed, that the singular good qualities which shone forth in them made it evident that they were raised up by Divine authority". Calvin, letter to William Cecil (on or after January 29, 1559 (probably 1560)), in {{harvp|Knox|1878}} (citing, at ''Preface'', n.&nbsp;1, for letter, ''Zurich Letters'' (2d ser.), p.&nbsp;35) (Calvin reviser, ''Commentaries on Isaiah'' (sometime in 1551–1559) (approximate title)).</ref> Knox's view was much debated in Europe at the time,<ref>{{harvp|de Abreu|2003|pp=168, 170–171}}, ''e.g.'', citing Aylmer (AElmer<!-- "A" & "E" separate letters -->), John, ''An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subiects agaynst the late blowne Blast, concerninge the Gouernment of Wemen wherin be confuted all such reasons as a straunger of late made in that behalfe, with a briefe exhortation to obedience'' (1559).</ref> the issue considered complicated by laws such as on inheritance<ref name="PromoteWBeareRule-16CJ-p116-n45n46" /> and since several women were already in office, including as Queens, according to de Abreu.<ref>{{harvp|de Abreu|2003|p=170}}</ref> Knox's view is not said to be widely held in modern Protestantism among leadership or laity.

=== Inclusionary ===
{{Main|thealogy|Goddess movement}}
According to Eller, feminist [[thealogy]] conceptualized humanity as beginning with "female-ruled or equalitarian societies",<ref>{{harvp|Eller|1991|loc=p.&nbsp;281 and see pp.&nbsp;282 & 287}}</ref> until displaced by patriarchies,<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p281">{{harvp|Eller|1991|p=281}}</ref> and that in the millennial future {{"'}}gynocentric,' life-loving values"<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p281" /> will return to prominence.<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p281" /> This, according to Eller, produces "a virtually infinite number of years of female equality or superiority coming both at the beginning and end of historical time".<ref>{{harvp|Eller|1991|p=282}}</ref>

Among criticisms is that a future matriarchy, according to Eller, as a reflection of spirituality, is conceived as ahistorical,<ref name="RelativizingPatriarchy-p291n27"/> and thus may be unrealistic, unreachable, or even meaningless as a goal to secular feminists.

==In popular culture==

===Ancient theatre===
* As criticism in 390 BC, [[Aristophanes]] wrote a play, ''[[Ecclesiazusae]]'', about women gaining legislative power and governing [[Athens]], Greece, on a limited principle of equality. In the play, according to Mansfield, Praxagora, a character, argues that women should rule because they are superior to men, not equal, and yet she declines to assert publicly her right to rule, although elected and although acting in office.<ref name="Manliness-p73-74-n">{{harvp|Mansfield|2006|loc=pp. 73–74 & n. 37}}, citing Strauss, Leo, ''Socrates and Aristophanes'' (N.Y.: Basic Books, 1966), ch. 9, and Saxonhouse, Arlene W., ''Fear of Diversity'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), ch. 1.</ref> The play, Mansfield wrote, also suggests that women would rule by not allowing politics, in order to prevent disappointment, and that affirmative action would be applied to heterosexual relationships.<ref name="Manliness-p73-74-n"/> In the play, as Mansfield described it, written when Athens was a male-only democracy where women could not vote or rule, women were presented as unassertive and unrealistic, and thus not qualified to govern.<ref name="Manliness-p73-74-n"/> The play, according to Sarah Ruden, was a fable on the theme that women should stay home.<ref>{{harvp|Ruden|2010|p=79}}</ref>

===Literature===
* [[Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett]]'s ''[[New Amazonia|New Amazonia: A Foretaste of the Future]]'' is an early feminist utopian novel (published 1889), which is matriarchal in that all political leadership roles in New Amazonia are required to be held by women, according to Duangrudi Suksang.<ref>Suksang, Duangrudi, ''Overtaking Patriarchy: Corbett's and Dixie's Visions of Women'', in ''Utopian Studies'', vol. 4, no. 2 (1993), pp. 74–93.</ref>
* [[Roquia Sakhawat Hussain]]'s ''[[Sultana's Dream]]'' is an early feminist utopia (published 1905) based on advanced science and technology developed by women, set in a society, Ladyland, run by women, where "the power of males is taken away and given to females," and men are secluded and primarily attend to domestic duties, according to Seemin Hasan.<ref>Hasan, Seemin, ''Feminism and Feminist Utopia in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's ''Sultana's Dream, in Kidwai, A.R., ed., ''Behind the Veil: Representation of Muslim Woman in Indian Writings in English 1950–2000'' (APH Publishing Corp., 2007). [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sultana/dream/dream.html ''Sultana's Dream'' (Digital.library.upenn.edu)].</ref>
* [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s book, ''[[The Ruins of Isis]]'' (1978), is, according to Batya Weinbaum, set within a "female supremacist world".<ref>Weinbaum, Batya, ''Sex-Role Reversal in the Thirties: Leslie F. Stone's 'The Conquest of Gola,{{'}}'' in ''Science Fiction Studies'', vol. 24, no. 3 (November, 1997), pp.&nbsp;471–482.  ([http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/73/weinbaum73.htm www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/73/weinbaum73.htm alternative availability]).</ref>
* In [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s book, ''[[The Mists of Avalon]]'' (1983), Avalon is an island with a matriarchal culture, according to Ruben Valdes-Miyares.<ref>Valdes-Miyares, Ruben, ''Morgan's Queendom: The Other Arthurian Myth'', in Alvarez Faedo, Maria Jose, ed., ''Avalon Revisited: Reworkings of the Arthurian Myth'' (Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2007).</ref>
* In [[Orson Scott Card]]'s ''[[Speaker for the Dead]]'' (1986) and its sequels, the alien pequenino species in every forest are matriarchal.<ref>[http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/83451-speaker-for-the-dead-summary-chapter-summaries/ ''Bright Hub Education'' (book summary)].</ref>
* In [[Sheri S. Tepper]]'s book, ''[[The Gate to Women's Country]]'' (1988), the only men who live in Women's Country are the "servitors," who are servants to the women, according to Peter Fitting.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fitting |first1=Peter |title=Reconsiderations of the Separatist Paradigm in Recent Feminist Science Fiction |journal=Science Fiction Studies |date=1992 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=32–48 |doi=10.1525/sfs.19.1.032 |jstor=4240119 }}</ref>
* [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]]'s book, ''[[Chroniques du Pays des Mères]]'' (1992) (translated into English as ''In the Mothers' Land'') is set in a matriarchal society where, due to a genetic mutation, women outnumber men by 70 to 1.<ref>Vonarburg (1992)</ref>
* [[N. Lee Wood]]'s book ''Master of None'' (2004) is set in a "closed matriarchal world where men have no legal rights", according to ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''.<ref>[http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-446-69304-2 ''Publishers Weekly'' (book review (reviewed September 27, 2004))].</ref>
* [[Wen Spencer]]'s book ''A Brother's Price'' (2005) is set in a world where, according to Page Traynor, "women are in charge", "boys are rare and valued but not free", and "boys are kept at home to do the cooking and child caring until the time they marry".<ref>[http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/brothers-price Traynor, Page, ''A Brother's Price'', in ''RT Book Reviews'' (review)].</ref>
* [[Elizabeth Bear]]'s ''[[Carnival (Bear novel)|Carnival]]'' (2006) introduces New Amazonia, a colony planet with a matriarchal and largely lesbian population who eschew the strict and ruthless population control and environmentalism instituted on Earth. The Amazonians are aggressive, warlike, and subjugate the few men they tolerate for reproduction and service, but they are also pragmatic and defensive of their freedom from the male-dominated Coalition that seeks to conquer them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://io9.gizmodo.com/387818/environmental-fascists-fight-gun-loving-lesbians-for-alien-technology|title=Environmental Fascists Fight Gun-Loving Lesbians for Alien Technology|publisher=[[io9]]|first=Annalee|last=Newitz|author-link=Annalee Newitz|date=6 May 2008|access-date=19 January 2016|archive-date=January 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126212237/http://io9.gizmodo.com/387818/environmental-fascists-fight-gun-loving-lesbians-for-alien-technology|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In [[Naomi Alderman]]'s book, ''[[The Power (Alderman novel)|The Power]]'' (2016), women develop the ability to release electrical jolts from their fingers, thus leading them to become the dominant gender.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-power-by-naomi-alderman-80fx3zcgg|title=The Power by Naomi Alderman|work=[[The Times]]|first=Francesca|last= Steele|date=15 October 2016}}</ref>
* [[Jean M. Auel]]'s ''[[Earth's Children]]'' (1980–2011).
* In the [[SCP Foundation]], which is a collaborative online horror fiction website, the Daevites are an ancient society in which women took the roles of both religious and political leaders, and men often take the place of slaves<ref>{{Cite web |title=Daevite Hub – SCP Foundation |url=https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/daevite-hub |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=The SCP Foundation |language=en}}</ref>

===Film===
* In the 2011 [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] animated film ''[[Mars Needs Moms]]'', Mars is ruled by a female Martian known only as The Supervisor, who long ago deemed all male Martians to the trash underground and kept all women in functioning society. The film reveals The Supervisor, for an unexplained reason, changed how Martian society was being run (from children being raised by parents) to Martian children being raised by "Nannybots". The Supervisor sacrifices one Earth mother every twenty-five years for that mother's knowledge of order, discipline and control, which is transferred to the Nannybots who raise the female Martians.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
* The 2023 film ''[[Barbie (film)|Barbie]]'' depicts a world (Barbieland) ruled entirely by Barbies in positions such as doctors, scientists, lawyers, and politicians while the Kens spend their time at the beach.

=== Television ===
* In the special "[[The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!]]", Blossom wanted society to based on the [[African elephant]], in which only women vote and "Stinky & Dumb" men are relegated to house tasks.
* In the [[Sliders (TV series)|Sliders]] episode "The Weaker Sex", Arturo finds himself in a mayoral race in a world where men are treated as "the weaker sex" and women hold the positions of power and influence. [[Hillary Clinton]] is shown as being the [[President of the United States]]. 
* In the [[Futurama]] episode "[[Amazon Women in the Mood]]", the crew land on a planet ruled by giant muscular women.
* [[Fumi Yoshinaga]]'s manga ''[[Ōoku: The Inner Chambers]]'', published between 2004 and 2020,  follows an alternate history of Japan in which most of the male population is killed by a disease, resulting in a matriarchal society. It is best known in the United States by its 2023 [[Netflix]] adaptation of the same name.<ref name="Ōoku">{{cite news |last1=Pineda |first1=Rafael Antonio |title=Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Anime's English-Subtitled Trailer Reveals June 29 Debut |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-05-22/ooku-the-inner-chambers-anime-english-subtitled-trailer-reveals-june-29-debut/.198341 |publisher=Anime News Network |date=22 May 2023}}</ref>

==Other animals==
[[Image:Зубри.jpg|thumb|[[European bison]] social structure has been described as a matriarchy.<ref name="bison" />]]
Matriarchy may also refer to non-human animal species in which females hold higher status and hierarchical positions, such as among [[spotted hyenas]], [[elephant]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vidya |last2=Sukumar |date=2005-10-10 |title=Social and reproductive behaviour in elephants |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24110972 |journal=Current Science |volume=89 |issue=7 |pages=1200–1207 |doi= |jstor= 24110972|access-date=}}</ref> [[lemur]]s, [[Naked mole-rat|naked mole rats]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Despard Estes |first=Richard |date=1991 |title=The Behaviour Guide to African Mammals |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0520080858 |url-access=registration |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, California |publisher=University of California Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_0520080858/page/337 337] |isbn=0-520-08085-8 |author-link=Richard Despard Estes}}</ref> and [[bonobo]]s.<ref name="NYT-20160910">{{cite news |last=Angier |first=Natalie |title=Beware the Bonds of Female Bonobos |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/science/bonobos-apes-matriarchy.html |date=September 10, 2016 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 10, 2016 }}</ref> Such animal hierarchies have not been replaced by patriarchy. The social structure of [[European bison]] herds has also been described by specialists as a matriarchy – the cows of the group lead it as the entire herd follows them to grazing areas.<ref name= 'bison'>{{Cite web|title = Leśnicy wołają żubry na siano|url = https://tvnmeteo.tvn24.pl/informacje-pogoda/polska,28/lesnicy-wolaja-zubry-na-siano,18741,1,0.html|publisher = TVN Meteo|author = Mirosław Androsiuk|date = 2012-01-26|access-date = 2019-12-02}}</ref> Though heavier and larger than the females, the older and more powerful males of the European bison usually fulfill the role of satellites that hang around the edges of the herd.<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Marta Kądziela (Director)|date=2014-09-24|title=Ocalony Świat – odc. 2 – Leśny majestat|trans-title = Saved World – Episode 2 – Forest Majesty|medium=Documentary|location=Poland|publisher=TVP1}}</ref> Apart from the mating season when they begin to compete with each other, European bison bulls serve a more active role in the herd only once a danger to the group's safety appears.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Plucińska |first1=Sylwia |title=Żubr dostał kosza, więc uciekł z pszczyńskiego rezerwatu |trans-title=Żubr got a basket, so he escaped from the Pszczyna nature reserve |language=pl |url=https://dziennikzachodni.pl/zubr-dostal-kosza-wiec-uciekl-z-pszczynskiego-rezerwatu/ar/240797 |work=Dziennik Zachodni |date=6 April 2010 }}</ref> In bonobos, even the highest ranking male will sometimes face aggression from females and is occasionally injured by them. Female bonobos secure feeding privileges and exude social confidence while the males generally cower on the sidelines. The only exceptions are males with influential mothers, so even the rank between the males is influenced strongly by females. Females also initiate group travels.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342897635|title=The Other Sister, Bonobos}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Alain Daniélou]]
* [[Çatalhöyük]] (denials of matriarchy)
* [[Daughter preference]]
* [[Female cosmetic coalitions]]
* [[Feminist separatism]]
* [[Gynocentrism]]
* [[Gender role]]
* [[Lumpa Church]]
** [[Alice Lenshina]]
* ''[[Marianismo]]''
* [[Masculism]]
* [[Matriarch (disambiguation)]]
* [[Gender pay gap#Negative gender pay gap|Negative gender pay gap]]
* [[Patriarchy]]
* {{section link|Patriarchs (Bible)|Matriarchs}}
* [[Other World Kingdom]]
* [[Bissagos Islands]]
* [[Trưng sisters]]
* [[Women in the EZLN]]{{Div col end}}
{{Clear}}
{{Portal bar|Society|Politics|Feminism|Religion}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist|32em}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|21em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|32em}}
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{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
<!-- Alphabetize by author's name. -->
* [[Marie Antoinette Czaplicka|Czaplicka, Marie Antoinette]], ''Aboriginal Siberia, a Study in Social Anthropology'' (Oxford: [[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]], 1914)
* Finley, M.I., ''The World of Odysseus'' (London: [[Pelican Books]], 1962)
* Gimbutas, Marija, ''The Language of the Goddess'' (London: [[Thames & Hudson]], 1991)
* [[Steven Goldberg|Goldberg, Steven]], ''Why Men Rule: A Theory of Male Dominance'' (rev. ed. 1993 ({{ISBN|0-8126-9237-3}}))
* Hutton, Ronald, ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles'' (Hoboken, NJ: [[Wiley-Blackwell]], 1993 ({{ISBN|0-631-18946-7}}))
* Lapatin, Kenneth, ''Mysteries of the Snake Goddess: Art, Desire, and the Forging of History'' (2002 ({{ISBN|0-306-81328-9}}))
* Lerner, Gerda, ''The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993 ({{ISBN|0-19-509060-8}}))
* Lerner, Gerda, ''The Creation of Patriarchy'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986 ({{ISBN|0-19-505185-8}}))
* {{cite journal |last1=Sukumar |first1=R. |title=A brief review of the status, distribution and biology of wild Asian elephants Elephas maximus |journal=International Zoo Yearbook |date=July 2006 |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-1090.2006.00001.x }}
* Sanday, Peggy Reeves, ''Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy'' ([[Cornell University Press]], 2002)
* Schiavoni, Giulio, ''Bachofen in-attuale?'' (chapter), in ''Il matriarcato. Ricerca sulla ginecocrazia del mondo antico nei suoi aspetti religiosi e giuridici'' (Turin, Italy: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2016) ([[Johann Jakob Bachofen]], editor) ({{ISBN|978-88-06-229375}})
* Shorrocks, Bryan, ''The Biology of African Savannahs'' (Oxford University Press, 2007 ({{ISBN|0-19-857066-X}}))
* Stearns, Peter N., ''Gender in World History'' (N.Y.: [[Routledge]], 2000 ({{ISBN|0-415-22310-5}}))

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|display=matriarchy, matriarchate, gynecocracy, or gynocracy|matriarchy OR matriarchate OR gynecocracy OR gynocracy|b=no|n=no|q=no|v=no|voy=no|d=no|species=no}}
* Knight, Chris. [http://www.chrisknight.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/Early-Human-Kinship-Was-Matrilineal1.pdf ''Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal''] (2008).

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Matriarchy| ]]
[[Category:Family]]
[[Category:Motherhood]]
[[Category:Mother goddesses]]
[[Category:Feminist theory]]
[[Category:Political anthropology]]