Minangkabau, Indonesia
The Minangkabau people are a part of the largest surviving matriarchal society encompassing approximately four million people as of 2017. The common belief in this culture is that the mother is the most important person in society. Women rule the domestic realm of life.
The Minangkabau are the largest matrilineal society in the world, with property, family name and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the responsibility of men, although some women also play important roles in these areas.
However, Great Britain is not a matriarchy. Elizabeth I, Elizabeth II, and Victoria came to the throne in the absence of male heirs, not because of a system designed to place women in positions of power.
A matriarchal religion is a religion that focuses on a goddess or goddesses. The term is most often used to refer to theories of prehistoric matriarchal religions that were proposed by scholars such as Johann Jakob Bachofen, Jane Ellen Harrison, and Marija Gimbutas, and later popularized by second-wave feminism.
Egypt was not a matriarchal society but wasn't a patriarchal one either. During the fifth century B.C., when the great Greek society expected their women to stay at home and take care of the house, Egyptian women freely participated in trade and businesses.
Greek society has been traditionally male dominated. There has been quite a masculine ideal of men cast as the strong provider for the family.
Many mothers in Italy embrace their matriarchal roles of creating a loving, stable home for their children, and maintaining traditions that revolve around culture, religion – and food. But like many women around the world, the role of an Italian mother has changed with the times.
Though Ireland is historically a patriarchy, uninvolved fathers, as seen in The Guard and The Snapper are forcing Irish mothers to take back control; this control is the foundation of a matriarchal society.
This patriarchy has not been promoted by the great founders of religions, but it could be contended , has been terribly exploited for their own ends, by many of the men that followed these religions. It is generally accepted that the move from matriarchy to patriarchy occurred approximately 3000 to 3500 years ago.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the most patriarchal region in the world.
Matriarchal societies are consciously built upon these maternal values and motherly work, and this is why they are much more realistic than patriarchies. The point is that as history shows us, we don't want ruthless, aggressive, violent and competitive people rule our world..
The Minangkabau of Sumatra, Indonesia, are the world's largest matrilineal society, in which properties such as land and houses are inherited through female lineage. In Minangkabau society, the man traditionally marries into his wife's household, and the woman inherits the ancestral home.
This is a story about the past that is important for the future. This is Kihnu, known as the Island of Women, an isolated place in the Baltic Sea off Estonia's western coast. Often referred to as Europe's last matriarchy, the island community is one primarily powered by the strength and resilience of women.
Indonesia's Minangkabau People
The Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia, have a matriarchal society in which property and wealth are inherited through the female line. Women hold a high status in Minangkabau culture and are often the ones who make decisions regarding family and community affairs.
Last but not least, the Mosuo—a society in southwestern China—may be one of the most fascinating demonstrations of a matriarchal society today. "Mosuo women carry on the family name and run the households, which are usually made up of several families, with one woman elected as the head," describes PBS Frontline World.
This was in contrast to the social structure of Maori society which was matriarchal. Yes, it's true. In pre-colonial Maori society, the dominant whakapapa (ancestry) of an individual was taken from their mother's lineage. Iwi and Hapu (sub-tribe) leaders were both male and female - gender equality in action!
Too old, some would say. The patriarchy is younger now, thanks to growing feminist acceptance of the idea that human society was matriarchal—or at least "woman-centered" and goddess-worshipping—from the Paleolithic era, 1.5 to 2 million years ago, until sometime around 3000 BCE.
For thousands of years, African societies were matriarchal and they prospered. By bringing an oppressive form of Colonial Christianity to Africa, Europeans replaced millennia of prosperous matriarchy with oppressive patriarchy.
The notion of a prehistoric mother goddess has been linked to the idea of matriarchy, or rule by women. But although the evidence of the Minoan28 and Mycenaean29 cultures indeed show that women held a higher status than in classical Greece, there is no sign of mother-right or matriarchy.
The Mosuo are often referred to as China's "last matrilineal society." The Mosuo themselves may also often use the description matriarchal, which they believe increases interest in their culture and thus attracts tourism.
Sparta was not a matriarchy. It was ruled by two male kings. Women may have had more power and sway than in Athens, but that does not mean the society was ruled by them or that they were considered a complete equal to men.
The patriarchal and nuclear family traditionally served as the norm and the ideal in Portugal.
Central, North, and South America have long been havens of matriarchal cultures, which puzzled or outraged the Europeans recording it, depending on their level of cultural flexibility.