Patriarchy.html |
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Patriarchy is the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of, hence authority over, their families. The concept of patriarchy is often used, by extension (in anthropology and feminism, for example), to refer to the expectation that men take primary responsibility for the welfare of the community as a whole, acting as representatives via public office.
The feminine form of patriarchy is matriarchy, but there are no known examples of matriarchies from any point in history.[1][2][3] Encyclopædia Britannica says it is a "hypothetical social system".[4] 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."[4]
The anthropologist Margaret Mead said, "All the claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed. ... men everywhere have been in charge of running the show. ... men have been the leaders in public affairs and the final authorities at home."[5] For moral assessments of patriarchy see benefits and criticism below; for a scientific treatment, see biology of gender below.
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Etymology
The word patriarchy comes from two Greek words —patēr (πατήρ, father) and archē (αρχή, rule). In Greek, the genitive form of patēr is patr-os,[6] which shows the root form patr, explaining why the word is spelled patr-iarchy.[7] The basic meaning of the Greek word archē is actually "beginning" (hence arche-ology or men-arche)[8] — the first words of Genesis in Greek (see Septuagint) are En archē ("In the beginning").[9] However, archē is also used metaphorically to refer to ruling, because rulers are perceived to "start" things,[10] for example hier-archy and an-archy.
Related words
A patriarch is a man who has great influence on his family or society. Many historical societies claimed descent from one great man. For example, the Romans believed they were descended from Romulus who founded Rome. The traditional founder of Athens is Erectheus, and of Sparta Lacedæmon. Similarly, the Jewish tradition in the Torah says Jews are descended from Abraham through Isaac. Both the Torah and Qur'an say Arabs are descended from Abraham through Ishmael,[11] [12] Abraham's first son, Isaac's half-brother. Traditional founders are often called patriarchs. The feminine form of patriarch is matriarch, for example see Matriarchs (Bible). Patriarch is also a name for the most senior leaders of Eastern Christianity, roughly comparable to the western arch-bishop (archē as above).
The adjective for patriarchy is patriarchal; and patriarchalism, or more commonly paternalism, refer to the practice or defence of patriarchy. Patron is a related word used generically (that is, it is not gender or sex specific). Women and men who provide financial support to activities within a community can be termed patrons. The verb form patronize can be used positively, to describe the activity of patrons, or negatively, to describe adopting a superior attitude. If the superior attitude is adopted by a man, he can be called paternalistic.
Related customs
Patrimonalism uses the Greek word monos (μόνος, sole) to describe the view of a state as the extended household of a mon-arch (sole ruler, archē as above) or deity. There are records of patrimonalism almost as far back as the earliest writing itself (about 5000 years ago). This is probably because patrimonalism directly facilitated the invention of writing — the first hereditary monarchs gained so much wealth as to need to keep accounts, and enough to pay those accountants. The earliest records of patrimonalism come from Ancient Near Eastern legal documents, the best known being the Code of Hammurabi and the Torah. Some aspects of patrimonalism can still be found in the few remaining monarchies in the world today, for example, British law concerning real estate (see Crown lands), especially in Australia. For more detail regarding patrimonalism see Traditional authority.
Some social customs reflect what is termed patrilineality or patrilocality.
Patrilineal describes customs where family responsibilities and assets pass from father to son. By contrast, contemporary Judaism considers people to be Jewish if their mothers were Jewish, which makes this aspect of contemporary Judaism matrilineal. Biblical Judaism is, however, a classical example of a patrilineal society. Matrilineal is a particularly useful term in genetics, where some genetic features are more or less passed via the maternal line, notably mitochondrial DNA and severe X-linked genetic conditions. An X chromosome from the mother is always passed to offspring, male and female. However, daughters do not receive a Y chromosome, and sons do not receive an X chromosome from their fathers (see sex-determination system, heredity and genetic genealogy).
Patrilocal describes the custom of brides relocating to the geographic community of the husband and his father's family. In a matrilocal society, a husband will relocate to the home community of his wife and her mother (see also marriage). Matrilocality can substantially increase the social influence of women in a culture, however, given that tribal and family leaders are still men in all known matrilocal societiescitation needed, matrilocality is not equivalent to matriarchy, see main entry patriarchy (anthropology).
By contrast with these other customs, patriarchy can be seen to be distinctly about gender and the nuclear family, gender and public office, and about female-male relationships in general.
Benefits of patriarchy
Patriarchy is advanced as being beneficial for human evolution and social organization on many grounds, crossing several disciplines. Although biology may explain its existence (see below), arguments for its social utility have been made since ancient times. These include elements of Greek Stoic Philosophy and the Roman social structure based on the pater familias,[13] but are also found in Akkadian records of Babylonian and Assyrian laws. George Lakoff proposes an ancient dichotomy of "Strict Father" as opposed to "Nurturing Parent" models of ethical theory (SFM and NPM).[14] In general, the main lines of argument are either pragmatic—namely, the claimed reproductive advantages of male-as-provider—[15] or ethical—that any perceived male authority is contingent upon underlying perceptions of duty of care.
Feminist criticism
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The neutrality and factual accuracy of this article are disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (May 2008) |
Most forms of feminism have challenged patriarchy as a social system that is adopted uncritically, due to millennia of human experience where male physical strength was the ultimate way of settling social conflicts – from war to disciplining children. John Stuart Mill wrote, "In early times, the great majority of the male sex were slaves, as well as the whole of the female. And many ages elapsed ... before any thinker was bold enough to question the rightfulness, and the absolute necessity, either of the one slavery or of the other."[16]
In some feminist theory, the opposite of feminism is patriarchy. It is not surprising, therefore, that the word patriarchy has a range of additional, negative associations when used in the context of feminist theory, where it is sometimes capitalized and used with the definite article (the Patriarchy), likely best understood as a form of collective personification (compare "blame it on the Government" to "blame it on the Patriarchy"). The use of the word patriarchy in feminist literature has become so loaded with emotive associations that some writers prefer to use an approximate synonym, the more objective and technical androcentric (also from Greek – anēr, genitive andros, meaning man).
Fredrika Scarth, a feminist, reads Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex to be saying, "Neither men nor women live their bodies authentically under patriarchy."[17] Mary Daly, a radical feminist, wrote, "Males and males only are the originators, planners, controllers, and legitimators of patriarchy."[18] Carole Pateman, another feminist, writes, "The patriarchal construction of the difference between masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection."[19]
Liberal, or mainstream, feminists do not propose to replace patriarchy with matriarchy, rather they argue for equality. Some radical feminists and separatist feminists have have argued for gendercide against men, matriarchy, or separation.[20] However, Ronald Dworkin has argued that equality is a difficult idea.[21] It is particularly hard to work out what equality means when it comes to gender, because there are real differences between men and women (see Sexual dimorphism and Gender differences). Recent feminist writers speak of "feminisms of diversity", that seek to reconcile older debates between equality feminisms and difference feminisms. For instance, Judith Squires writes, "The whole conceptual force of 'equality' rests on the assumption of differences, which should in some respect be valued equally."[22]
For a leading feminist who writes against patriarchy see Marilyn French; and for one who is more sympatheticcitation needed see Christina Hoff Sommers.
In summary, some recent feminist writers have shown a tendency to admit misandry among some other members of the movement[23], and acknowledge real differences in men and women that make diversity a more meaningful aim than reductionistic equality (for example Judith Squires above).
Decades of legislation and affirmative action have not yet changed the fact that western culture is male dominatedcitation needed, and that it remains patriarchalcitation needed, although women can vote in most countries of the world, and they outnumber men in higher education in many countries.[24]
However, heads of state, cabinet ministers, and the top executives of major companies are still mostly men (see glass ceiling). Also, women's average income is still significantly lower than men's average income. However many masculists argue that this is due to education and career choices that women and men make, rather than the patriarchy.[25] Sally Haslanger claims women are still marginalized within academic philosophy departments.[26]
Steven Goldberg
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To date, feminists have failed to achieve some of their goals (for example, those related to executive positions and average income, see above). This was predicted in 1973 (the early days of second wave feminist activism) by Steven Goldberg (born 1941). "In every society a basic male motivation is the feeling that the women and children must be protected. But the feminist cannot have it both ways: if she wishes to sacrifice all this, all that she will get in return is the right to meet men on male terms. She will lose."[27] Goldberg was chairman of the department of sociology at City College of New York, and has written two books on patriarchy. In the second he wrote:
| “ | There is nothing in this book concerned with the desirability or undesirability of the institutions whose universality the book attempts to explain. For instance, this book is not concerned with the question of whether male domination of hierarchies is morally or politically 'good' or 'bad'. Moral values and political policies, by their nature, consist of more than just empirical facts and their explanation. 'What is' can never entail 'what should be', so science knows nothing of 'should'. 'Answers' to questions of 'should' require subjective elements that science cannot provide. Similarly, there is no implication that one sex is 'superior' in general to the other; 'general superiority' and 'general inferiority' are scientifically meaningless concepts.[28] | ” |
In Goldberg's first book, he seeks an explanation for three specific aspects of male dominance behaviour in human societies. Patriarchy is the first of these. He also considers the phenomenon of male status seeking, which he calls "male attainment." He is influenced by Margaret Mead in identifying this phenomenon. She says, "Men may cook, or weave or dress dolls or hunt hummingbirds, but if such activities are appropriate behavior for men, then the whole society, men and women alike, votes them as important. When the same occupations are performed by women, they are regarded as less important."[29] Finally, he claims that men seem to dominate in one-to-one relationships with women, marriage being one example of such relationships. Goldberg comments, "A woman’s feeling that she must get around a man is the hallmark of male dominance."[30]
Goldberg proposes the hypothesis that the statistical averages of all these forms of behaviour are partly explained by the necessary (but not sufficient) condition of neuroendocrinological effects – namely, testosterone. The title of his first book makes his hypothesis very clear, it was called The Inevitability of Patriarchy: Why the Biological Difference between Men and Women always Produces Male Domination. At the time he wrote (1973), there were only very limited results from biological researchers to support or contradict his hypothesis. The situation has changed a lot since then.
For other writers who make similar points to Goldberg see Steven Pinker and Donald Brown in the literature below.
For current feminists and writers with considerably more biological knowledge than Goldberg, who accept his hypothesis, but consider issues beyond the biological, see Helena Cronin and Louann Brizendine.
| “ | It all stems from muddling science and politics. It's as if people believe that if you don't like what you think are the ideological implications of the science then you're free to reject the science – and to cobble together your own version of it instead. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous when it's spelled out explicitly. Science doesn't have ideological implications; it simply tells you how the world is – not how it ought to be. So, if a justification or a moral judgement or any such 'ought' statement pops up as a conclusion from purely scientific premises, then obviously the thing to do is to challenge the logic of the argument, not to reject the premises. But, unfortunately, this isn't often spelled out. And so, again and again, people end up rejecting the science rather than the fallacy.[31] | ” |
| “ | "To state categorically that there can be no biological component would seem to be foolish. We do not know yet how male hormones (acting indeed before birth and the possibility of different socialization) may affect the male psyche. But that there might be a biological component does not lead me to conclude that men then should do what is 'natural' to them, for there must be complementarity between the sexes. It makes me think that humanity is faced with a deeper problem than we knew." Margaret Daphne Hampson[32] | ” |
Biology of gender
The biology of gender is scientific analysis of the physical basis for behavioural differences between men and women. It is more specific than sexual dimorphism, which covers physical and behavioural differences between males and females of any sexually reproducing species, or sexual differentiation, where physical and behavioural differences between men and women are described. Biological research of gender has explored such areas as: intersex physicalities, gender identity, gender roles and sexual orientation.
Research in this area is generally motivated by the search for causes of diseases in human beings, and ways of treating or preventing those diseases; it is thought that men and women might require different kinds of treatment for certain diseases. The results are relevant to gender issues, but that is not their direct concern.
It has long been known that there are correlations between the biological sex of animals and their behaviour.[33][34][35]
The late twentieth century saw an explosion in technology capable of aiding sex research. John Money and Milton Diamond made great progress towards understanding the formation of gender identity in humans. Extensive advances were also made in understanding sexual dimorphism in other animals. For example, there were studies on the effects of sex hormones on rats. In the early twenty first century, discoveries were made concerning genetically programmed sexual dimorphism in rat brains, prior even to the influence of hormones on development.
| “ | Genes on the sex chromosomes can directly influence sexual dimorphism in cognition and behaviour, independent of the action of sex steroids. | ” |
Some specific relevant results are as follows. The brains of many animals are significantly different for females and males of the species.[37] Both genes and hormones affect the formation of many animal brains before "birth" (or hatching), and also behaviour of adult individuals. Hormones significantly affect human brain formation, and also brain development at puberty. Both kinds of brain difference affect male and female behaviour.
Brain differences also have a statistically measurable effect on an array of abilities. In particular, on average, women are more capable in nearly everything to do with sensory processing.citation needed For an illustrated description of clear differences between female and male brain response to pain see Laura Stanton and Brenna Maloney, 'The Perception of Pain'.[39] On the other hand, male brains seem to be "pushed" towards extremes of low ability or high ability in various forms of mental abstraction, especially those related to space and logic. This means the average scores of young women and men in mathematics, for example, will be close, but there will be more men than women in the very low scores and in the very high scores (see the diagram at the right for an illustration).[38] There is evidence to suggest that forms of autism may be essentially extreme expressions of certain typically male characteristics.[40][41] Hormones have also been linked with male aggression and female power motivation.[42][43] Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (confirming Goldberg above) claims that observed male aggression would predict a tendency towards the patriarchy that has also been observed.[44].
Alexandra M. Lopes and others recently published that:
| “ | A sexual dimorphism in levels of expression in brain tissue was observed by quantitative real-time PCR, with females presenting an up to 2-fold excess in the abundance of PCDH11X transcripts. We relate these findings to sexually dimorphic traits in the human brain. Interestingly, PCDH11X/Y gene pair is unique to Homo sapiens, since the X-linked gene was transposed to the Y chromosome after the human–chimpanzee lineages split.[45] | ” |
Appendix
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008) |
- Patriarchies in dispute
The table shows most societies that have been claimed at one time or another to be matriarchal. In every case the ethnographers report that the societies were patriarchal not matriarchal, even before changes brought by contact with western culture. However, some of the societies are matrilineal or matrilocal.
Note: separate in the marriage column, refers to the practice of husbands and wives living in separate locations, often informally called walking marriages. See the articles for the specific cultures that practice this for further description.
Table
| Endonym | Continent | Country | Marriage | Property | Government | Ethnographer | Date | F/M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alor | Asia | Indonesia | patriarchy | Cora du Bois | 1944 | female | ||
| Bamenda | Africa | Cameroon | patrilocal | only Kom matrilineal | patriarchy | Phyllis Kaberry | 1952 | female |
| Bantoc | Asia | Philippines | patriarchy | Albert S Bacadayan | 1974 | male | ||
| Batek | Asia | Malaysia | patrilocal | patriarchy | Kirk Michael Endicott | 1974 | male | |
| Boyowan | Australasia | Papua New Guinea | patrilocal | matrilineal | patriarchy | Bronisław Malinowski | 1916 | male |
| Bribri | North America | Costa Rica | matrilocal | matrilineal | patriarchy | William Moore Grabb | 1875 | male |
| unknown (Çatalhöyük) | Asia | Turkey | na | na | na | James Mellaart | 1961 | male |
| Chambri | Australasia | Papua New Guinea | patriarchy | Margaret Mead | 1935 | female | ||
| Pilipino | Asia | Philippines | both | both | patriarchy | Chester L Hunt | 1959 | male |
| Gahuku-Gama | Australasia | Papua New Guinea | patriarchy | Shirley Glasse (Lindenbaum) | 1963 | female | ||
| Hopituh Shi-nu-mu | North America | United States of America | matrilocal | matrilineal | patriarchy | Barbara Freire-Marreco | 1914 | female |
| Iban | Asia | Borneo | both | neither | patriarchy | Edwin H Gomes | 1911 | male |
| Imazighen | Africa | North Sahara | patriarchy | George Peter Murdock | 1959 | male | ||
| Haudenosaunee | North America | North East North America | matrilocal | matrilineal | patriarchy | Lewis Henry Morgan | 1901 | male |
| Jivaro | South America | West Amazon | patriarchy | R Karstan | 1926 | male | ||
| Kenuzi | Africa | Sudan | patriarchy | Ernest Godard | 1867 | male | ||
| Kibutzim | Asia | Israel | neither | neither | patriarchy | Judith Buber Agassi | 1989 | female |
| !Kung San | Africa | Southern Africa | patriarchy | Marjorie Shostak | 1976 | female | ||
| Maliku | Asia | India | separate | matrilineal | patriarchy | Ellen Kattner | 1996 | female |
| Minangkabau | Asia | Indonesia | both | patriarchy | PJ Veth | 1882 | male | |
| Mosuo | Asia | China | separate | matrilineal | patriarchy | Joseph Francis Charles Rock | 1924 | male |
| Nakhi | Asia | China | matrilineal | patriarchy | Joseph Francis Charles Rock | 1924 | male | |
| Nayar | Asia | India | matrilineal | patriarchy | E Kathleen Gough | 1954 | female | |
| Tlingit | North America | United States of America | matrilocal | matrilineal | patriarchy | Aurel Krause | 1885 | male |
| Vanatinai | Australasia | Papua New Guinea | matrilocal | matrilineal | no government patriarchy |
Maria Lipowsky | 1981 | female |
| Wemale | Asia | Indonesia | patriarchy | Adolf E Jensen | 1939 | male | ||
| Woorani | South America | Ecuador | patriarchy | John Man | 1982 | male | ||
| Yegali | Africa | Madagascar | na | na | na | na | na | na |
List
| Autonym | Comments | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Alorese | "Marriage means for women far greater economic responsibility in a social system that does not grant them status recognition equal to that of men while at the same time it places on them greater and more monotonous burdens of labor."
Bois, Cora du (1944). The People of Alor: A Social-Psychological Study of an East Indian Island. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. |
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| Bamenda |
"They are under the political authority of a Village Head, who is usually the descendant of the first settler or of the most senior man of a small band of first settlers in the locality. Where the village is the largest autonomous political unit, he may exercise a titular claim to all land within the village boundaries, but the implications of this are political rather than economic. The right to reside in a village and cultivate its land is contingent on obedience to the Village Head and conformity to custom." [Page 29.] "I stress this point since the European observer, confronted by the spectacle of women bending over their hoes through the day while a number of men may be seen lounging in the compounds, are apt to regard the division of labour as not only inequitable but as an exploitation of the female sex. Such an attitude, however, fails to take into account the contribution made by the men in the heavier tasks, more especially in the dry season; and, secondly, the onus on them to earn money for household necessaries." [Page 27.] "Women are not eligible for the headship of kin or political groups." [Page 148.] Kaberry, Phyllis M (1952). Women of the Grassfields. London: Colonial Research Publications 14. |
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| Bantoc |
"As is typical of the Bantoc ... the Tanowong are organized into different dap-ay groups ... . The dap-ay ... is the men's house. The dap-ay are the religeous, social, and political centers of village life, where major decisions are made ... . While each dap-ay theoretically has a council of old men who make the decisions, in actual fact, especially at present, every mature man participates in the deliberations of the council." Bacadayan, Albert S (1974). "Securing water for drying rice terraces: irrigation, community organization, and expanding social relationships in a Western Bontoc group, Philippines". Ethnology 13: 247–260. |
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| Batek |
"Wives usually go where their husbands want to go and the men seem to prefer their own home areas. ... The Batek have a system of headmanship which appears to go back some time. There are at least seven men in the Aring and Lebir Valleys today who are commonly regarded as penghulu ('headmen') and they have in their genealogy several generations of penghulu, menteri ('ministers' or 'chiefs'), panglima ('war captains'), and even a raja ('king'). ... The position of the penghulu descends to the sons of previous penghulu, ideally in order of birth. If the penghulu has no sons, it goes to his next oldest brother and then to his sons in order." Endicott, Kirk Michael (1974). Batek Negrito Economy and Social Organization. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Unpublished PhD thesis, 239–246. |
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| Boyowan Kiriwina Trobriand Islands |
These are matrilinear, patrilocal and patriarchal tribes. Maternal uncles are family heads, and the tribal chiefs are dynastic male monarchs, paid a tribute. "A district is formed by a number of villages, which are tributary to a particular headman of high rank, a chief." "A chief has a wife from each subject village." "The headman of a village is the oldest male of the dominant subclan." "Next to the chief and sorcerer, the garden magician is the most important person in the village. He may even be the chief. He is a hereditary specialist in a complex system of magic handed down in the female line." "Fishermen are organized into detachments, each of which is led by a headman who owns the canoe, performs the magic, and reaps the main share of the catch." "Although descent is matrilineal, postmarital residence is patrilocal." Quotes from an article sourced on Malinowski (see below) by Martin J Malone. Malinowski, Bronisław (1916). "Baloma: Spirits of the Dead in the Trobriand Islands". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 46: 354-430. Malinowski, Bronisław (1918). "Fishing in the Trobriand Islands". Man 18: 87-92. Malinowski, Bronisław (1920). "Kula: The Circulating Exchange of Valuables in the Archipelagoes of Eastern New Guinea". Man 20: 87-105. Malinowski, Bronisław (1920). "The Economic Pursuits of the Trobriand Islanders". Nature 105: 564-565. Malinowski, Bronisław (1921). "The Primitive Economics of the Trobriand Islanders". The Economic Journal 21: 1-16. Malinowski, Bronisław (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Seattle: Washington University Press. Malinowski, Bronisław (1936). "The Trobriand Islands of Papua". Australian Geographer 3: 10-12. There is an amusing anecdote of cross-cultural contact on Kiriwina. The local yam is part of the staple diet and has something of a contraceptive effect. The Kiriwina tribes were initially reluctant to believe western stories of sex causing pregnancy. |
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| Bribri |
"(The brother) ... or in the default of a brother, a cousin or uncle, [has a ruling voice in any family council or discussion]." Gabb, William Moore (1875). "On the Indian tribes and languages of Costa Rica". American Philosophical Society Proceedings 14: 483–602. |
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| Çatalhöyük |
"The archaeological evidence of female oriented ritual at Catal Hüyük is no more a substatial demonstration of matriarchy than some future excavations of a contemporary shrine of La Virgin de Guadalupe (or some other cult of the Madonna) might uncover." Webster, Steven (1973). "Was it Matriarchy?". New York Review of Books: 37–38. |
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| Chambri (Tchambuli) |
"Nowhere [in Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies do I suggest that I have found any material which disproves the existence of sex differences [in Tchambuli Society]. ... This study was not concerned with whether there are or are not actual and universal differences between the sexes, either quantitive or qualitative." Mead, Margaret (1937). "Letter". The American Anthropologist 39: 558-561. "All the claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed. ... men everywhere have been in charge of running the show. ... men have been the leaders in public affairs and the final authorities at home." Mead, Margaret (1973). "Review of Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies". Redbook October: 48. |
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| Filipinos (and Filipinas) |
"This combination of patterns has brought the Filipino woman to a point where, although denied some of the adventurous freedom of the male, she may be even better prepared for economic competition. The acceptance of the boredom of routine work may be seen as part of 'patient suffering' which is said to characterize the Filipino female to a greater extent than the male. Her responsibile role in the household means that the wife is charged with practical affairs while the husband is concerned to a greater extent with ritualistic activity which maintains prestige." Hunt, CL (1965). "Female Occupational Roles and Urban Sex Ratios in the United States, Japan, and the Philippines". Social Forces 43: 144. |
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| Gahuku-Gama (Fore) |
"At marriage a Fore woman ... is expected to be ... an obedient spouse, a prolific childbearer, and generous with gifts of food to her affines and her husband's friends." Glasse (Lindenbaum), Shirley (1963). The Social Life of Women in the South Fore. Port Moresby: Department of Public Health, Territory of Papua and New Guinea, 1. What is tastefully left out of this description is that food sometimes consisted of recently deceased members of the tribe. A disease called kuru, probably spread by this canibalism, affected more women, children and elderly than men. [Note again that anthropologists provide scientific observations not moral judgements.] |
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| Hopi |
"It seems that brothers are assumed to be senior to sisters, and entitled to respect as such, in the absence of evidence to the contrary." Freire-Marreco, Barbara (1914). "Tewa Kinship Terms from the Pueblo of Hano, Arizona". American Anthropologist new series 16: 269–287. "Within the family, the mother's brother, or, in his absence, any adult male of the household or clan, is responsible for the mainenance of order and the discipline of younger members." Dozier, Edward P (1954). "The Hopi-Tewa of Arizona". American-Archaeology and Ethnology 44: 339. |
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| Iban |
"Typically, every bilek family has as its head a man who is responsible for the general management of the farm." (page 81) The original ethnography is cited in Whyte, William King (1978). The Status of Women in Pre-Industrial Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press. "The tuah rumah is the administrator and custodian of adat, Iban customary law, and the arbiter in community conflicts. He has no political, economic, or ritual power. Usually a man of great personal prestige, it is through his knowledge of custom and his powers of persuasion that others are induced to go along with his decisions. Influence and prestige are not inherited. The Iban emphasize achievement, not descent." Quote from Martin J Malone's cultural summary drawn from sources including: Gomes, Edwin H (1911). Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: a record of intimate association with the natives of the Bornean jungles. London: Seeley. The main Wikipedia entry above includes a short recent history of colonial politics and wars involving the Iban, up to the co-operation between Iban and Australians against Japanese in World War II. The film, The Sleeping Dictionary, is set among the Iban. |
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| Imazighen (Berbers) |
"Nuclear families are reported to be independent social groups only among the Mzab. Elsewhere they are aggregated into patrilocal extended families, each with a patriarchal head." Murdock, George Peter (1959). Africa: Its people and Their Cultural History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 117. |
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"The Indian regarded woman as the inferior, the dependent, and the servant of man, and from nurturance and habit, she actually considered herself to be so." Morgan, Lewis Henry (1901). League of the Ho-Dêé-No-Sau-Nee or Iroquois. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 315. "Ruling over the League was a council of 50 chiefs known as sachem[s] or lord[s]." From Marlene M Martin's cultural summary, which draws upon the text quoted above. Two interesting thing about this society are that the chiefs were elected, not hereditary, and that the voters were exclusively female. The council itself had a ruler, but he was elected by the council. See also: Richards, Cara B (1957), "Matriarchy or Mistake: The Role of Iroqois Women Through Time", Cultural Stability and Cultural Change, New York: American Ethnological Society, p. 36–45. Randle, Martha C (undated). "Iroqois Women, Then and Now". Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 149. The main Wikipedia entry also provides enough circumstatial evidence to suggest what the anthropologists reported – the Iroqois were traditionally a matrilineal but patriarchal people. |
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| Jivaro |
"On relations between husband and wife it may be proper to say that it is regulated according to the principle 'the man governs, but the woman holds sway'." Karstan, R (1935). The Headhunters of Western Amazonia:The Life and Culture of the Jibaro Indians of Eastern Ecuador and Peru. Helsingfors: Finska Vetenskaps-societeten Helsingfors, 254. |
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| Kenuzi |
"The subservient position of women was determined by the Islamic religion." (page 133) "Women influence their husbands, but [their husband's] decisions are decisive." (page 89) The original ethnographies are cited in: Whyte, William King (1978). The Status of Women in Pre-Industrial Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press. It is also worth noting that in this society, girls are married before puberty (Godard, 1867), by adult men who inspect them manually for virginity (Kenedy, 1970). Female circumcision is later performed at puberty to ensure chastity (Barclay, 1964). [Once more we note that niether the anthropologists who report such practices, nor those who cite them, nor this article endorse these things in any way. These practices are mentioned only to explain why most scholars do not consider this society matriarchal.] |
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| Kibbutzim |
"Some women serve as secretaries of kibbutzim, very few as treasurers; women as economic directors are still a rarity. Experience in the internal positions of power is the stepping stone to external positions of power. There has been one woman national secretary of a kibbutz federation. The kibbutz federations usually send into national politics one token woman at a time." Agassi, Judith Buber (1989). "Gender Equality: Theoretical Lessons from the Israeli Kibbutz". Gender and Society 3: 160-186. |
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| !Kung |
"N≠issa's descriptions ... of her relationship with her husband, Tashay, suggest that relations between the sexes are not egalitarian, and that men, because of their greater strength, have power and can exercise their will in relation to women. This confirms Marshall's (1959) finding that men's status is higher than women's." Shostak, Marjorie (1976), "A !Kung Woman's Memories of Childhood", in Lee and De Vore, Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, p. 277 "The dominant impression one gets from accounts of patrilocal bands is one of semi-isolated, male-centered groups, encapsulated within territories." Lee, Richard B (1976), "!Kung Spacial Organization", in Lee and De Vore, Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, p. 75 "There are inherited positions, such as the 'headman'." Marshall, Lorna (1976). The !Kung of Nyae Nyae, 125. "Raising 2 or 3 children to competent maturity—the life's work of a successful woman—has typically required hard decisions about priorities, attentive management of social relations, ingenuity, luck, and decades of hard labor." Fielder, Christine; Chris King (2004). Sexual Paradox Complementarity, Reproductive Conflict, and Human Emergence. ISBN 1-4116-5532-X. |
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| Maliku Minicoy |
"Maliku seamen then had small colonies in Burma, near Rangoon, and on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Nowadays, the men prefer to work on cargo ships owned by national and international shipping companies. Their 'Minicoy Seamen's Association' shifted from Calcutta to Bombay, where they teach the young men and supply employment." "Until 1960, all the villages selected an additional authority, the rahubodukaka (lit. the country's big brother), who was in charge of the rahuge (lit. house of the country). He and the rahuweriñ (lit. ruler of the country), a boduñ selected by the boduñ and niamiñ [high status groups], were responsible for all the affairs concerning the whole island and the access to the southern part for collecting firewood and coconuts." Kattner, Ellen (1996). "Union Territory of Lakshadweep: The Social Structure of Maliku". Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter 10. |
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| Minangkabau |
"In spite of the nominal 'matriarchate', Van Hasselt claims that the women are really the servants of the men. They not only prepare the meals of the men in their family, but they also serve them first, later eating with the children." Paraphrase of: Hasselt, AL van (1882), "Volksbeschrijving van Midden-Sumatra", in PJ Veth, Midden-Sumatra, Leiden, p. Third Part "The women have not the legal right to make a contract, not even to dispose of themselves in marriage." Both quotes from: Loeb, EM (1934). "Patrilineal and Matrilineal Organization in Sumatra: The Minangkabau". The American Anthropologist 36: 49. More recently, Peggy Reeves Sanday observed the following: "The Minangkabau are guided by a hegemonic idealogy called adat, which legitimizes and structures traditional political and ceremonial life." [Page 146] "Thus, the Minangkabau make a distinction between female/weak and male/strong ..." [Page 149] "In the specifics of male and female role definition, adat [sic] ideology is decidedly androcentric." [Page 150] "First there are the ninik mamak, the men who have the authority to decide in accordance with adat law. The ninik mamak have authority over their nephews and nieces. [The ninik mamak are the heads of the clan in the villages." [Page 151] Sanday, Peggy Reeves (1990), "Gender in Minangkabau Ideology", in PR Sanday and Ruth Gallagher Goodenough, Beyond the Second Sex, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press Mohammad Hatta, the first vice president of Indonesia, was a Minangkabau. |
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| Naxi Mosuo |
"The Naxi Kingdom flourished from the eighth century until 1724 when it came under direct Chinese rule. ... Their predominant tribe is the Moso, the name by which the Naxi were originally known. The Moso of today carry on the matrilineal family structure in the Naxi tradition. ... Naxi is the only living pictographic language. ... Although a large percentage of Naxi ceremonies deal with exorcism, the Library's collection also includes a pictographic creation story, a sacrifice to the Serpent King, accounts of Naxi warriors and other people of high social standing ascending to the realm of deities, and love-suicide stories." From Library of Congress website. This secondary source describes the primary literature available regarding the Naxi. Unlike most of the other socieities in this list, the Naxi were literate and have left records of their beliefs and practices. The mention of "warriors" and "high social standing" and even "matrilineal" rather than "matriarchal", suggest an historically patriarchal society. |
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| Nayar |
"The Karanavan [mother's brother] was traditionally unequivocal head of the group... . He could command all other members, male and female, and children were trained to obey him with reverence." Gough, E Kathleen (1954). The Traditional Kinship System of the Nayars of Malabar (manuscript). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Social Science Research Council Summer Seminar on Kinship, Harvard University. Quoted in: Stephens, William N (1963). The Family in Cross-Cultural Perspective. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 317. |