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A persistent belief suggests that in certain earlier periods of human existence, females had similar status to men, or perhaps ruled, resulting in more harmonious and more peaceful societies. Subsequently, male-dominated systems arose, bringing ages of strife and oppression.

The Roots of the Gender System Discussion

The concept of matriarchy and patriarchy as diametrically opposed—following a sudden switch between them—originated in the 19th century through socialist theory, influencing anthropological studies despite limited evidence. From there, it permeated into public consciousness.

Anthropologists, however, were often more sceptical. They documented great variation in gender relations among human societies, both contemporary and historical ones, and many suspected that this diversity had been the norm in ancient times too. Confirming this proved challenging, partly because identifying biological sex—let alone gender—was often hard in ancient remains. Then about two decades back, everything shifted.

A Revolution in Genetic Analysis

This much-touted genomics era—the capacity to extract DNA from ancient bones and analyse it—enabled that abruptly it became possible to determine the gender of long-dead individuals and to examine their family connections. The chemical makeup of their bones and teeth—specifically, the proportion of isotopes found there—indicated whether they had resided in various locations and undergone shifts in nutrition. The picture coming to light thanks to these new tools shows that variety in gender relations had been absolutely the norm in prehistory, and that there was no definite turning point when a particular model yielded to its mirror image.

Theories on the Emergence of Male-Dominant Systems

One influential theory, in fact attributed to Marx’s collaborator, suggested that humans were equal before farming spread from the Near East about 10,000 years ago. With the more sedentary lifestyle and building up of resources that farming introduced arose the necessity to defend that property and to set rules for its succession. As populations grew, men monopolised the elites that formed to coordinate these affairs, in part because they were better at warfare, and assets passed to the paternal lineage. Male kin were additionally more likely to remain in place, with their wives relocating to join them. Women’s subordination was often a byproduct of these changes.

An alternative theory, put forward by researcher Marija Gimbutas in the 1960s, was that woman-centred societies prevailed for longer in Europe—until 5,000 years ago—after which they were toppled by arriving, male-ruled migrants from the steppe.

Evidence of Female-Line Societies

Matrilinearity (where wealth passes down the mother’s side) and female-resident patterns (where women remain in one place) frequently go together, and each are associated with greater women’s standing and authority. In 2017, U.S. scientists discovered that for more than 300 years around the 900s AD, an elite mother-line group inhabited a canyon site, in modern-day the southwestern U.S.. Later, this June, Asian experts reported a matrilineal agricultural community that flourished for a comparable duration in eastern China, over 3,000 years earlier. These findings add to others, suggesting that female-descended societies have existed on all populated landmasses, at least from the arrival of farming forward.

Influence and Agency in Ancient Societies

However, though they possess greater status, women in mother-line societies don’t necessarily hold decision-making power. This typically remains the domain of men—specifically of women’s brothers instead of their spouses. And since ancient DNA and isotopes don’t reveal a great deal about female agency, gender power relations in prehistory continue to be a matter of debate. In fact, this line of work has forced scholars to ask themselves what they mean by power. If the wife of a king shaped his court through support and back channels, and his own policies by advice, was she any less powerful than him?

Experts have identified multiple examples of pairs sharing power in the bronze age—the period after those migrants came in Europe—and subsequent historical records confirm to elite women shaping policies in such ways, continents apart. Maybe they did so in the distant past. Females wielding indirect influence in patriarchal societies could have predated Homo sapiens. In his 2022 book about sex and gender, Different, primatologist a noted scientist described how an alpha female chimp, a named individual, chose a replacement to the top male—her superior—with a gesture.

Elements Shaping Gender Relations

In recent years another aspect has emerged. Although the theorist was likely generally right in associating wealth with patrilinearity, additional elements affected gender relations, as well—including how a society sustains itself. Recently, international scientists found that historically matrilineal villages in a highland region have grown more gender-neutral over the past several decades, as they moved from an farming-based system to a market-oriented one. Struggle also plays its part. Although matrilocal and male-resident societies are equally warlike, says anthropologist a Yale expert, internal strife—rather than battles against an outside group—pushes societies towards male residence, because fighting groups prefer to have their sons nearby.

Females as Warriors and Authorities

At the same time, evidence is accumulating that women engaged in combat, hunted and acted as spiritual leaders in the ancient world. No role or role has been closed to them always, everywhere. And though women leaders may have been rare, they haven’t been absent. Recent genetic analyses from Trinity College Dublin demonstrate that there were at least pockets of matrilinearity throughout the British Isles, when Celtic tribes dominated the land in the metal period. Alongside physical finds for women fighters and Roman accounts of women leaders, it looks as if ancient European women could wield hard as well as indirect power.

Modern Matrilineal Societies

Mother-line societies persist today—a Chinese group are an example, as are the a Native American tribe of Arizona, descendants of those Chaco Canyon lineages. These communities are dwindling, as state authorities assert their patriarchal influence, but they act as testaments that some extinct societies leaned closer to gender equality than many of our present-day ones, and that all societies have the potential to evolve.