Editing Matriarchy (section)

== 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}}

[[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 ====
Bangladesh

The [[Khasi people|Khasi]] and the [[Garo people|Garo]] people residing in the [[Sylhet Division|Sylhet]] and [[Mymensingh Division|Mymensingh]] regions are two of the top matriarchal societies of [[Bangladesh]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

===== 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, unlike in a true matriarchy, political power tends to be in the hands of men, and 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 may be 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|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>