Re: Patriarchy: Re: What Matriarchy?
cougar@cathouse.com
Wed, 24 Jul 1996 03:24:32 GMT
Well, while there are tons of myths about matriarchy, I can find
little reference to actual matriarchy societies...however, I know that
they have existed and will exist.
I DID find the following, on the net under the following url:
http://museon.museon.nl/objextra.eng/matriar.html
a museum in the netherlands....
dunno how accurate they are, but will check into some more for more
concrete proof of matriarchy.
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Minangkabau matriarchy
The society of the Minangkabau is ruled by the system of matriarchy,
that means that they trace descent and inheritance through
the female line. Children belong to the family of the mother, they are
not even seen as relatives of the father! He is not obliged to
take care of his children, that is the task of the eldest brother of
the wife. Every man is obliged in the first place to take care of
the children of his sister(s).
When a Minangkabau man and woman marry, they do not form a family in
our sense of the word. The woman keeps on living
with her family, and when the pair gets children, they stay with her.
Sometimes the husband lives with his wife in her family's
house, sometimes he only visits his wife.
Matriarchy makes the women independent of the men.
Under the influence of the Islam and modern developments the system of
matriarchy is disappearing very slowly at the moment.
The relation between father and children and the position of the
family as a social unit acquires more and more significance.
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