Editing Matriarchy (section)

=== 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>