Regardless of the attitude of scientists of one time or another to the division of the entire historical process, in general, few people doubt today that the initial stage in the formation of society was the primitive communal system. This period covered a fairly wide time span. It began with the very appearance of people on Earth and continued until the formation of the first state structures and class groups.
Man and Society
Any society is, to a certain extent, an integral organism. This system is distinguished by one or another level of regulation, organization and orderliness of interactions within it. This suggests that any form of social organization presupposes the existence of a certain administrative structure (social power). In addition, the process of regulating people's behavior through certain rules and norms is characteristic. Primitive communal society existed for more than a million years. It was the mostlong historical stage.
Society and governance
From the moment a society emerges, there is immediately a need to establish governance. During the primitive system, each member of the society had its own interests, without agreement with which the society could not exist. This is due to the fact that they acted as a decisive personal regulator. Man and society cannot exist separately from each other. Ensuring normal life, as well as the progressive development of social relationships must be combined with personal interests. In this case, society will strive to achieve the common good. However, it should be noted that connection is possible with a combination of individual and social benefits. Such a combination is achieved mainly due to the presence in the society of the rules of conduct and the power that enforces and ensures these norms. Depending on who owns the leading role in governance, patriarchy, matriarchy and equality are formed. In the second case, power is concentrated in the hands of women. One of the characteristic features of the earliest system was matriarchy. What is this system? Let's look further.
Definition
So, matriarchy - what is it? The concept itself has Greek roots. Literally translated as "the dominance of the mother." Another name for this power is gynecocracy. As already mentioned, the history of matriarchy goes back to the distant past. This concept is used when defining the typea government that was formed exclusively from women or in which the dominant role belonged to them. How did the term “matriarchy” come about? What has this domination given to women?
The emergence of a hypothesis
The assumption of the existence of gynecocracy is associated with such researchers as Morgan, Bachofen, Lafito. In Soviet archeology, history, anthropology, and ethnography, the idea of the existence of matriarchy was not questioned at all for a very long time. But subsequent research confirmed the hypothesis of a matricentered society in the earliest stages of the agricultural era. Most experts agree, touching on the concept of "matriarchy", that this is the structure in which women did not just achieve power. Their domination, social recognition began to surpass the authority and powers of men. Some authors in their writings, meanwhile, refute the fact of the existence of at least one society in which the dominance of women would be obvious for a long period. While others find confirmation that "modern matriarchy" is still taking place. What are the reasons for the emergence of this social system?
How did matriarchy come about?
What is this structure, we found out. Now we need to understand what factors contributed to the emergence of this system. Some researchers, including opponents of the hypothesis of the existence of such a stage in the formation of society, recognizenevertheless, that some strengthening of the status of women in reality was often noted at the initial stages of the formation of a culture of agriculture. According to a number of authors, "gardening", hoe cultivation of the soil came from gathering. And this type of activity, in turn, was considered a typical female occupation. Over time, the importance of agriculture has increased. Along with this, the role of women in society has increased. Subsequently, arable cultivation of the soil came to replace the hoe. At the same time, the role of women also declined. Matriarchy in primitive society could exist in different forms. However, regardless of this, the structure had its own characteristics. It was they who made it possible to distinguish her from others.
Signs of the system
There are several features in the presence of which one can speak of a matriarchal society: matrilineality and matrilocality. Equally important is such a sign as avunculism. This is such a family system in which the role of the head belongs to the maternal uncle. In some cases, as a feature of a society dominated by a woman, there is polyandry, guest or group marriage. Matriarchy in the family is also manifested by such an indisputable sign as maternal right. It obviously applies to divorce. In this case, the children stay with the mother or in her family. In addition, the order of distribution and inheritance of property is also transmitted through the female line. These are the main features that distinguish matriarchy and patriarchy.
It cannot be said that men do not have privileges and rights. They can live with their sistersmaternal line and their children. Half-sisters and brothers will be considered relatives. In general, we can say that the family is formed not around the father, but around the mother. But for all their differences, matriarchy and patriarchy have much in common. For example, men, regardless of living conditions, perform the same tasks. In particular, their functions include providing protection, solving complex issues, raising children.
Matrilocal structure
The society in this case consisted of about two hundred or three hundred people. All of them were close relatives in the female line. Within such a generic group, there are many small structures. As a rule, they traditionally consist of a mother, her children, and grandchildren. From them, in fact, there is a clan that collectively owns communal land. At the head of this whole structure is the eldest woman, and in some cases her blood half-brother. Land is considered collective property. The rest of the property belongs to women. It is passed down from mother to daughter. As a rule, intra-kind marriages are prohibited - in order to avoid incest. In this regard, such a structure was in close relations with another group. Between them there was an exchange of brides and grooms.
Gender separation
This variant of the existence of society assumed the formation of two groups within the same genus. In one lived exclusively men, and in the other, respectively, women. Each subsystem had its own leader. For both groups there wascharacterized by autonomy. It should be said that in those matriarchal systems in which the formation of a religious picture was influenced by paganism, female deities predominated, headed by the great Mother Goddess. An example is Shaktism - one of the early directions of Hinduism - the cult of Astarte, the goddess of ancient Mesopotamia. Over time, matriarchy has been replaced by patriarchy. In this regard, the female pantheon of deities was replaced by a male one. The goddesses began to lose their cult and religious significance, turning into secondary characters in ancient religious mythology. As a result, the throne of the Mother Goddess passes to God the Father. It should be noted that the matriarchal way of society was found at different times everywhere in almost all parts of the world, among different nationalities that inhabited Africa, Asia, Europe, America (both South and North).
Ancient sources
Ancient Greek myths about the existence of the Amazons can be attributed to the earliest information about matriarchal societies. For a long period, it was believed that these legends were an invention of ancient authors. But recently, the fact of the existence of societies of warlike women who lived without husbands and raised their daughters in a warrior spirit was nevertheless proved.
Archaeologists have discovered burial mounds. Swords, arrows, bows, precious weapons were laid in the graves of noble women. This directly indicated that they were engaged in military craft. In the Voronezh region in 1998, six such graves were found. They were buriedwomen aged 20 to 25 years (it should be said that the average life expectancy at that time was no more than forty years). All found Amazons were of average height and modern physique. In the graves, in addition to weapons, details of a spindle, precious earrings, and a bone comb with the image of a cheetah were found. Almost every grave had a silver or bronze mirror. Judging by the way their thighbones were deformed, it can be concluded that the women rode horses a lot.
Man's remains were also found in many graves. The analysis of the available genetic material made it possible to establish the gender of the nomads who were found in the Volga burial mounds. During one excavation, more than a hundred arrowheads were found in a female burial. According to many signs, the researchers concluded that a very noble woman was buried here. All this suggests that the warrior girls went into battle next to the men, and in some cases, maybe they themselves were commanders or queens, playing the role of commanders in chief.
Strong matriarchal customs were present in the management structure of the Massaget peoples. The epic Karakalpak poem "Forty Girls" ("Kyrk kyz") is considered quite convincing evidence of the significance of the role of women in the life of tribes. It tells about the numerous exploits of female warriors. It should be said that the motif of a female hero can be traced in the epic of many nationalities. However, the story about the squad of warriors is present in Central Asia exclusively among the Karakalpaks. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the features of a female warrior can be traced not only in poems and legends, but also in the ritual costumes of the bride. Until the very beginning of the 20th century, the Karakalpaks preserved rituals and traditions that date back to the ancient layer of their development, which many researchers associate with matriarchy.
Research
Gita Gotner-Abendort in her writings defines the concept of matriarchy quite broadly. The author presented one of her books as "a study of societies formed outside the principles of patriarchy." In other words, Gottner-Abendort defines a matriarchal system as a society in which male dominance by gender is minimized or absent altogether. These findings confirm the excavations of archaeologists on the island of Sumatra and the results of studies of the life of the Minangkabau tribe, which has preserved the traditions and cult of the maternal tribal system. It should be said that in this case, within the tribal management system, the dominant role belonged exclusively to a woman. Men, in fact, had no rights and were considered "newcomers." A somewhat different situation developed in the Moso tribe living in the territory of Sichuan province. The tribe retained the traditional matriarchal system. Despite the dominant role of women, men perform no less important tasks: they pray for well-being, they are responsible for rituals. And their voice in making important decisions and discussing tribal issues is far from the last one.
Women's power today
Matriarchy in the modern world has been preserved only in some areas of Southeast and South Asia, Tibet, Africa. At the same time, it must be said that even in these structures, the dominance of women is considered relative today. According to such a system, for example, the Ranathari people inhabiting Nepal and India, Garo, Khasi, Minangkbau and others live. In these tribes, along with the high status of women, there is also polyandry (polyandry). Certain features of true matriarchy were preserved among the Tuareg. Here matrilocality and matrilineality are observed. In addition, women are endowed with a high right to take part in solving social tribal issues. The Tuareg still has a clear difference between male and female writing.
Conclusion
It is believed that matriarchy is a reflection of a rather low level of development of society. In contrast, a society is presented where the dominant role belongs to a man. There is an opinion that patriarchy is a more progressive type of development of the social structure. However, many modern male-dominated systems continue to be in a state of savagery and uninformedness. They are infinitely distant from the achievements of the modern world, civilization. These peoples still live in huts and caves. Therefore, to say that society has moved from matriarchy to humanity is not entirely true and correct. The dominance of men in the social structure does not at all mean that the system has the ability to develop in a cultural,technical or scientific. At the same time, it is impossible not to say about the role of women in the sphere of public administration. For example, the monarchy in Russia can be considered indicative. As you know, power was inherited, and quite often the reign passed to women. During these periods, according to many researchers, matriarchy was clearly manifested in Russia. Although, no doubt, many male rulers deserve deep respect.
