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Matriarchy refers to a social system in which women hold primary power and dominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and control of property.
Definition of Matriarchy. In a complete matriarchy three main conditions are fulfilled: The hereditary succession is traced back in a matrilineal line (matrilineality). The residence is matrilocal. This means that female and male descendants live a lifetime in their mother’s kin.
a powerful woman in a family : The matriarch of the Smyth family was Margaret. Irene, the 47-year-old matriarch of the family, was found alone in the kitchen. the female leader of a society in which power passes from mother to daughter. Fewer examples.
The concept of a prehistoric matriarchy was introduced in 1861 when Johann Jakob Bachofen published Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World.
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritance of property and titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant of either gender in which the individuals in all intervening generations ...
