Patriarchy is the product of thousands of years of historical development. But there were and still are other forms of society. A "matriarchy" in the sense of sovereignty over men by women has probably never existed. In many primitive tribes however, women form the centre of society as the embodiment of the life-spending principle. This does not lead to the men being pushed out onto the fringes however, since harmonious spheres of action are respected between the sexes. The Iroquois, a North American Indian tribe, that settled in Hudson Bay before the arrival of the white man will be discussed here as an example of a non-patriarchal system. Their way of life inspired the French thinker Rousseau to devise his theory of the "Noble Savages".

Each tribe was made up of various clans. Each clan dwelled in a longhouse, which belonged to the women together and was inherited matrilinearly (from mother to daughter). The clan mother (matriarch) functioned as the chief of the clan who used the best warriors in the clan as her aides.

The clan mother was elected in the clan assembly. The sons and daughters lived in their mother's clan house for the period of their lives. On marrying the man visited the woman periodically in her clan house. Marriages could not be annulled. Women were not subject to any moral laws or laws of virginity, since all children were considered the mother's children and children of the mother clan as well. The biological fatherhood of the children was less important than the social fatherhood, which a brother or relation acted out mainly for the mother of the children.

The arable land also belonged to the women which they worked together. The men catered for welcome additions by hunting, fishing and trading. The process of developing political will in the clan took place in separate assemblies of men and women. An attempt to reach consent was then made by both groups subsequently. In the women's assembly, the women had more voting power the more children they had. Women and men were also represented equally in the tribe council, the league council and the highest committee of the five united Iroquois tribes.

Wars were fought by the men alone; however no organised wars were fought by the Iroquois before the arrival of the Europeans in America. Warriors of a enemy clan were not killed per se, but a check was made first to see whether they could replace one of the warriors killed in the clan. This was the responsibility of the women. Absolutely no sexual violence existed, either against those captured or in the clan houses.

After the victory by the white Americans, the Iroquois were forced into small reservations where they suffered the loss of their cultural identity, particularly in Canada. In 1847, the Iroquois, including the men, were forced into arable farming and the core family declared an economic unit under male leadership. A law in Canada fixed the patriliniarity of the tribes in 1869.

[Author: Dorette Wesemann, Edited by: Ragnar Müller]

Example of a patriarchal system of society: Near-Eastern Nomad Tribes

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