0 a type of society in which women have most of the authority and power, or a society in which property belongs to women and is given to children by women rather than men
1 a society in which women have most of the authority and power, or a society in which property belongs to women rather than men
In the nineteenth century, anthropologists were fascinated by matrilineal descent, which they confounded with matriarchy as a supposedly earlier stage of social evolution than patriarchy.
Patriarchy gave way to the disorder of matriarchy.
They came close to uncovering matriarchy.
One finds in many primitive countries that a matriarchy gives one a much more stable community.
The notion of matriarchy was meant to describe something like a utopia placed in the past in order to legitimate contemporary social criticism.
While "matriarchy" sometimes means the political rule of women, that meaning is often rejected, on the ground that matriarchy is not a mirroring of patriarchy.
However, unlike a matriarchy, the political power tends to be in the hands of males.
Matriarchy is rare in the animal kingdom as a whole but common among lemurs.
