How advanced would a matriarchy be?

[Annie11111]

I've always wondered about this, what if the world had been a matriarchy from the very beginning to this day, what would society look like? In terms of socio-economic systems, philosophy, religion, human rights, science, technology and so on. How much would it differ from today's world?

Btw there is a matriarchal society in China , the Mosuo.

Anything could be different, or nothing. It could be a million times better or a million times worse. As women are physically smaller than men something pretty fundamental would have had to have happened to make women in charge in the first place. All ideas are on the table, it's in the realms of imagination and SciFi. Could be like anything. Interesting to hear others ideas!

curwen i've said i don't think it's possible to know. i certainly don't think that women are incapable of oppression or cruelty, but if that were to occur under a matriarchy i don't know what form it might take

Maybe if way back when there had been some kind of illness that wiped out loads of blokes or made male babies rare or something. Then men would be "precious" and subject to tight control much as women have been.

I think it would be very different just because it would have been different people which is always going to bring about a different kind of vibe or focus. Look at Japan, for example. A starkly different culture from anywhere else on Earth, because for a very long time they were entirely separate.

Oooh interesting. Like a Handmaid's Tale but in reverse. What would happen to make men as a physically superior class relinquish power? Maybe something like Rwanda, where the male population is so diminished due to civil war.

I think that in a matriarchy, we'd be bound to see child bearing as a hugely inportant thing, if only out of naked self interest.

This would be one thing that any matriarchal society would gladly expend its resources on, surely?

How that looked on the ground is anyone's guess ...

seven i have the entire plot of a novel in my head that's based on a similar premise!

i'm not a very good writer though, so i doubt it will ever be written down

Petula, tell us and we'll write it for you communally!

Oooh I'd read it!

I think that as men are physically larger and stronger than women [in general] there would have to be another form of suppression for women to become the ruling class.

I am imagining some form of religion, probably female entity focused, so goddess rather than god.

Men in this society would be encouraged to conform and submit to the female hierarchy as they had been taught from birth that women are spiritually superior to men and must be obeyed unquestionably... otherwise the moral structure of society will break down and the goddess entity will be displeased and deliver some form of terrible retribution.

So not that dissimilar from traditional god based religion, just with a gender role switch?

This book written in the 1970s is a really good (I think) discussion of the ideas. It is also very very funny (gay menwim are expected to wear big plastic breasts for example)

Groups get into positions of power over others because it makes their lives better. I don't see how it would have made women's lives better to have more power than men, so I don't see how it would make any sense for us to have ever had a matriarchal past.

The nearest I can see is the suggestion that men were very, very rare, in which case women would possibly have a desire to control them to ensure survival of the group. The reverse is not true for patriarchy. Women are not very, very rare.

Men being physically larger can't be the only or main reason for their historical dominance over women. African slaves brought to Europe and the Americas were often larger and stronger than their masters (well, owners. I'm sureties men wumples to oversee their work were probably built like nightclub bouncers). Physical size can mean little when social structures all reinforce a power imbalance. Property ownership, freedom of movement, freedom of choice in matters of your own body are ways in which oppression of black slaves was perpetuated (and also women). Being physically larger is useless we the state doesn't recognise you as a legal person who can own things.

"if property were inherited down the maternal line, would marriage have even developed as there would be no requirement to be "certain" of paternity?"

Abland ...

Interestingly, in my DH's culture, traditionally, daughters inherited land and houses, and sons inherited family businesses. Often a large portion of the settlement would be made upon marriage, so a bride's parents would be expected to donate the house and land she would inherit as part of her dowry and the groom would be expected to bring a profitable share of a business to the marriage.

Despite matrilineal property inheritance, my DH's culture was, and still is, incredibly patriarchal -- though it has got a lot better in the last fifteen years. It was still legal to beat your wife up to the late 70s, an unmarried woman still cannot really live alone without a lot of gossip, and divorce has only just become acceptable in the last ten years or so.

that's interesting worksallhours

out of curiosity, who would "own" the bride's share upon marriage. would it continue to be in her name and control, or transfer to the husband, or in both their names?

it's a ched evans supporter, can safely be ignored

That's interesting, works!

The obsession with circumcision and fake facts about Sweden tells me that this is a previously banned poster.

Everything to do with the sex industry would be illegal.
This would be ideal though.

Annnnd... He's gone!

And there was much rejoicing.

They have a crib sheet, don't they?

Interesting idea.

We're all talking about male strength being superior to female strength, but that could easily be undermined if girl babies and children were prioritised nutritionally - given first access to all the protein rich foods so they grow stronger and taller, say - and were encouraged to build up strength as children/adolescents. If girls were treated like this, and boys were mainly given vegetable based foods and little protein, and made to stay indoors and sew/read, it might be that the strength difference could be almost discounted? And let's remember this is what an awful lot of places including the UK have done or currently do (in reverse) with their children.

I think all sorts of medical things would have been understood & cures found at a much earlier stage. Women in my experience tend to be much more matter of fact about anatomy and bodily functions so I think people would have been allowed to carry out autopsies and understand problems with childbirth, or what tumours were etc much earlier on. IIRC it was a religious rule that prevention post-mortems?

We would certainly have foolproof and reliable, side effect free contraception by now, and ways to avoid excess pain in childbirth.

Society wise, I can imagine that women would each have their own home, and it would be up to them when to invite a man into it, whether for the night, or for a month, or indefinitely.

I think probably a lot of women would share their homes with other women, sisters for example might well live together, especially when they have younger children, to share childcare and resources, and older relatives might well live in too. There would need to be larger houses to accommodate these, or perhaps neighbouring houses with covered walkways between them and shared gardens.