matriarchy

Form of society where domestic and political life is dominated by women, where kinship is traced exclusively through the female line, and where religion is centred around the cult of a mother goddess. A society dominated by men is known as a patriarchy.

Matriarchy and patriarchy are oversimplifications of the distribution of familial and political power between the sexes. The concept persists largely through a confusion with matrilineal descent, where kinship is reckoned through females, and with matrilocal residence, where men reside in their wives' homes or villages after marriage. Matrilineal societies with matrilocal residence do exist, for example the Minangkabau of Indonesia.

In the late 19th century many anthropologists (such as Johann Bachofen (1815-87), John F McLennan (1827-81), Lewis H Morgan (1818-1881), and Friedrich Engels) believed matriarchy to be the earliest stage in the evolution of society. Others (including Henry Maine (1822-88) and Edward Westermarck (1853-1936)) maintained that patriarchy was the earliest stage. The theory was abandoned early in the 20th century when fieldwork failed to discover any matriarchal societies.