Matriarchy

Matriarchy (from Greek matēr "mother" + archein "to rule") is a social system in which women hold primary power. Most anthropologists hold that there are no known societies that are or were unambiguously matriarchal.

Definition

The term is applied to a form of society, in which the leading role is with the female and especially with the mothers of a community. The word matriarchy is coined as the opposite of Patriarchy, from Greek matēr "mother" and archein "to rule". Primarily "matriarchy" is a family rule instead of actual rule by women. The main aspect of matriarchy is economical and communal property of the family.

Some modern anthropologists and sociologists maintain there are no known examples of human matriarchies from any point in history. Encyclopædia Britannica, siding with the anthropologists and sociologists who made the aforementioned assertion, lists matriarchy as a "hypothetical social system." The Britannica article goes on to note, "The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development is now generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed."

See also

• Patriarchy
• Feminism