Matriarchy: What Does a Society Run by Women Look Like?

There are different ways to define the word "matriarchy," and it can get a little confusing. For example, some people consider matriarchies to mean women are the dominant gender in a society. They make the decisions, they drive the economy and they rule the politics — basically the flipside of patriarchies.

In 1861, Swiss anthropologist Johann Jakob Bachofen wrote that matriarchies derived from hetaerism, a system where women had no power and were the property of their tribes. However, he posited that women fought back, taking total control of their families, properties and political power.

But others expect a matriarchy to manifest more as an egalitarian society where gender equality is the norm. Everyone stands on equal footing and works in partnership with one another. Experts who endorse this interpretation believe it's unfair to assume a matriarchy would look anything like a patriarchy in practice.

In an article titled "Matriarchies as Societies of Peace: Re-thinking Matriarchy," Heide Goettner-Abendroth, a German feminist and researcher of matrilineal societies, argues that a female-dominated society is not merely the opposite of a patriarchal system, and as such there isn't gender hierarchy or a social organization built on gender inequality:

The Matriarchal Myth

In "The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why an Invented Past Won't Give Women a Future," author Cynthia Eller says it's tempting to believe that before recorded history, ancient societies worshiped women and propelled them to leadership positions, but that this interpretation could be false. In her book, she examines both sides of the ancient matriarchy debate.

While there are differing views on whether women ruling was a widespread phenomenon, matriarchal societies do exist. An example of a group with female rule is the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra.

Around 4 million in number, the Minangkabau are an ethnic group that considers themselves a matriarchy, and this, combined with a philosophy called adat that emphasizes nurturing both people and nature, forms a core tenet of their society [source: Sanday].

Women own the land, which passes down through a female line, from mother to daughter. Rather than women moving in with their husbands upon marriage, the men join their new brides' households.

Women are central to the community, and older women — regarded as the strongest pillars in the society — even more so. The men aren't oppressed; they're simply peripheral in familial organization. All the members of a family work for the betterment of everyone else.

While strength and stamina helped propel male domination in the workplace, some argue that this isn't what we need in a work environment and that women's social smarts and communication skills can make a difference.

Women today hold more managerial and professional jobs than they ever have. In terms of education, women are getting degrees three to two over men.

In terms of money, women control more than half the wealth in the United States, and in terms of purchasing power, their control is even greater. Women generally manage some 80 to 90 percent of their families' buying power [sources: PBS, Pittsburg Post-Gazette].

Whether these statistics are signs of a domineering or egalitarian matriarchy is not yet completely clear. But it does appear that a strong social shift has been occurring and still is. Although a wage gap remains between the genders, women workers are slowly but steadily closing that divide.

In the past few decades, women have taken the workplace by storm, they still largely rule the home and they comprise a huge portion of the consumers pushing the demand side of the market as well. Even if that's not technically a matriarchy, it challenges some of the earmarks of a typical patriarchy.