Gender Dance: Matriarchal Society

Females hold power in a matriarchal society and exclude men while they regulate social rights and land. They have important positions in moral authority and political leadership, as well. A lot of the women who have this authority are mothers. Women in these communities not only lead, but also take on men’s work, such as driving trucks. Although this rule is reflected by matriarchy among women, others refer to it as gynocracy or gynecocracy. The social structure, like matrilineality and matrilocality, is comparable to other cultures, thereby creating uncertainty. Matrilineality varies from matriarchy because it requires their mothers’ naming of children. The female bloodlines form tribal alliances and extended families.  The similarity between this system and the latter is that women seem to matter more than men. An example of a matrilineality society is the Jewish Halakhic. Similarly, the matrilocality society is different from matriarchy because its basis is on domestic relations, whereby, maternal authority dominates. That is, during the marriage the husband joins the family of the wife. With the extended family supporting the wife, men seem isolated. A majority of the matrilineality and matrilocality characteristics are found in the matriarchy system. 

In recent times, matriarchal societies exist in various parts of the world. The men are responsible for the children where institutions of marriage exist. In those that marriage is not a rite of passage, men have no significance or responsibility except procreation. Lack of commitment by marriage makes women misbehave as they search for a lover to make them pregnant. Therefore, outsider men tend to take advantage because they believe that the women offer free sex. Examples of these societies include; The Mosuo in China, Aka from Congo, Iceland, and Alabama’s Alapine.