But it is nonetheless, a myth. 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. True, nurseries are often said to be widely available, but the most widespread form of childcare in Russia is the grandmother, or child-minder, which of course requires no capital investment on the part of the capitalist class – a familiar story? "[51], A matrilocal society defines a society in which a couple resides close to the bride's family rather than the bridegroom's family. Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday said the Minangkabau society may be a matriarchy. The impact of the new system pulled the old pre-capitalist family apart, as each member of the family became wage labourers. "[129], 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. Lugu Lake Mosuo Cultural Development Association, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/c1dd/909dd14fb6cdf1335cb104ccf397c23b4336.pdf, "Plutarch • Sayings of Spartans — Lycurgus", "History of Iran: Histories of Herodotus, Book 4", Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex, and Politics, 1st World Congress on Matriarchal Studies, Societies of Peace: 2nd World Congress on Matriarchal Studies (home page), official English-language website advanced search page, www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/73/weinbaum73.htm alternative availability, "Environmental Fascists Fight Gun-Loving Lesbians for Alien Technology", "Żubr dostał kosza, więc uciekł z pszczyńskiego rezerwatu", "Women, law, religion, and politics in Israel: a human rights perspective", "Iroquois Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution: How the Founding Fathers Ignored the Clan Mothers", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matriarchy&oldid=980141684, Pages containing links to subscription-or-libraries content, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from December 2016, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2013, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from October 2013, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2014, Articles containing Ancient Greek-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2016, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from September 2017, Articles needing additional references from October 2013, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2013, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2009, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, According to Prof. Linda M. G. Zerilli, "an ancient matriarchy ... [was "in early second-wave feminism"] the lost object of women's freedom.".
[92] According to Doug George-Kanentiio, in this society, mothers exercise central moral and political roles.
The concept of patriarchy has been central to many feminist theories. 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. 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. Patriarchy can for instance refer to a specific society where the father (the “patriarch”) ruled not only the women in the family but also the younger men. The typical woman today works in waged labour for the majority of her adult life. To us it made sense for women to control the land since they were far more sensitive to the rhythms of the Mother Earth. '"[15] Eller wrote that the idea of matriarchy mainly rests on two pillars, romanticism and modern social criticism.
It is theoretical acceptance of these countries being somehow better than Western capitalism that leads to acceptance of theories of patriarchy: if women are manifestly unequal there, this must be the fault of men, rather than of the economic system.
[118], 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, or as matriarchal in character.