In many ways, women today exercise more sociopolitical and economic rights than ever in history; yet in others, we still live in a world where a stray hair can spell murder for a woman. Still, the notion that women’s issues are even a topic of discussion speaks to the patriarchal societal order of the world.
Yet, a society where leadership, inheritance, and decision-making is fiercely guarded by woman authority is far from dystopian: it is a flourishing reality in some matriarchal communities around the world. Here, matriarchy doesn’t exist as a reversal of patriarchy—the goal is not to rule over men, but to create care-taking, nurturing communities of equity for all gender identities. From a society defiant of conventional gender roles to a collective cordoned off to men altogether, read to discover the rich cultural tapestries and transformative power of women in positions of supremacy.
1-Lijiazui in Muli Tibetan Autonomous County
In this serene mountainous village, women are the heads of the family unit. As a matriarchal society, the people of Lijiazui have put community needs at the forefront and perfected the ecological tourism infrastructure of the area to keep the influx of income ever-flowing.
2-Mosuo Villages near Lugu Lake, China
Here, women own and inherit property, do land work, and choose their partners with the same freedoms and nonjudgement as their male counterparts. “Musuo men are feminists by any standards,” said Choo Waihong, a lawyer from Singapore who visited this community. “I was once made to wait before talking business with an elderly Mosuo man until he had bathed his family’s twin baby girls and changed their nappies.”
3-Khasis and Garos in Meghalaya, India
“Women not only occupied space; they dominated them.” Zinara Rathnayake told BBC of the matrilineal societies in Meghalaya. Here, children bear their mother’s last name, husbands move into their wife’s home, and the youngest daughters inherit ancestral property. Girls being born is as much a celebration as boys being born. If there is no daughter in the family, they will still adopt a girl so that the property can be passed on. Mawlynnong, a Khasi-inhabited village, is also the cleanest village in India.
4-Eticoga in Orango, Guinea-Bissau
On the Island of Orango, a woman proposes marriage by offering a fish platter to her desired husband. If a woman wants to divorce, she announces it by removing her husband’s belongings from the home. Motherhood and womanhood is sacred and revered. Because women have leading administerial roles, maternal values are extended to land: access to natural resources is regulated to allow nature to replenish, and many sites ban permanent settlements, war, and outsider access.
5-Minangkabau in Indonesia
Nursyirwan Effendi isn’t materially wealthy, but he is regarded as blessed with a great fortune by his people in Minangkabau. This is because he has four daughters. In this community, ownership of homes and lands passes from mother to daughter for generations. At marriage, husbands move into their wives’ homes, and no decision is made without consensus between men and women.
6-Bribri people in Costa Rica
Indigenous Bribri women in Costa Rica pioneer sustainable, forest-inspired agricultural practices on land that they themselves own. Cocoa is a sacred plant, consumed in the ritualistic occasions of marriages, deaths, pregnancies—and it is produced overwhelmingly by women.
7-Umoja in Kenya
Surrounded by a fence of thorns, this village was founded by women, for women—particularly, women who are survivors of rape, child marriage, and domestic violence. More experienced villagers here train and educate women and girls from surrounding villages on issues such as early marriage and FGM.
8-Karpathos in Greece
Each recipe here travels intergenerationally to the next daughter, like a prized family secret. Women empower each other’s businesses, creating and wearing traditional garb for religious ceremonies, while the men wear everyday khakis and button-downs.
9-Kihnu, Estonia
Known as the Island of Women, Kihnu is off Estonia’s coast, a place where men have historically been absent, working at sea or abroad. The responsibility to farm, raise children, maintain traditional song, dance, handicrafts, and conduct weddings and funerals is all in women’s hands.
10-Nairs and Ezhavas of Kerala, India
This state’s incomparable literacy rate and stable sex ratio in India is owing to ancient matrilineal practices. Tharavand is a big house owned by the eldest woman in the family, in which all the male members reside. The matriarch’s family name is passed down to all future generations, and her property is considered ancestral property.
11-Sivuna in Bougainville
Village meetings consist overwhelmingly of women, where everything from upcoming fundraisers to tackling social issues is discussed. Land, regarded as the most valuable asset, is passed from mother to daughter, and its responsibility is not taken lightly. “We make decisions for the land — how the land will be cultivated or how it is to be used,” said a community member.
12-The Cham in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand
In the Cham matriarchy, marriage freedoms for women are fearlessly practiced. The bride’s family takes the initiative, and the groom must either move into the bride’s family house or the couple move into a house separately. When they pass away, Cham men are buried in the matriarchal clan’s cemetery.
13-Nashira, Colombia
A relatively recently founded village, Nashira promises free housing for vulnerable women, who become legal heads of the household. A woman-exclusive community board makes key decisions in Nashira, with initiatives ranging from small businesses to recycling groups. Women marry for love instead of financial security, and teenage pregnancy is a thing of the past in this village.
14-Haudenosaunee people in Americas
In the structurally matriarchal indigenous American society of six nations, women not only raise and teach children but also control land, and so, the production of three staple sister crops: corn, beans, and squash. Land is allocated to families that need it. If a man is found to be murderous, a thief, or sexually abusive, it is women who decide that he is removed from a position of power. Haudenosaunee women organize and lead protests against land-grabbing and environment-destroying forces.
15-Sworn Virgins in Albania
If they’re not able to exercise their full freedoms in a patriarchal society, some women in Albania, burrneshas, take a vow of chastity and live as men: dress as men, lead the household, move freely, and secure employment open only to men.
16-Minicoy Island in Lakshadweep
The dowry system prevalent in mainland India is reversed here: it is the groom who gives gifts to the bride. Daughters stay in the ancestral home, while sons live with their in-laws. Women remarry frequently without judgment and divorce as freely as men. As a result, family fights are rare, said a resident Aysha.
As with everything, these matriarchal societies are not perfect and face questions of reconciling ancestral traditions with the dynamic times, values, and spirits within their communities. But one thing is definitive: in a world where zan, zindagi, and azadi—woman, life, freedom—is an ongoing struggle, these matriarchal communities hold up to us a tried and trod way of creating safe, empowering, and nurturing spaces for women. If not a model of it, a possibility for sure.
