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A widespread notion suggests that in certain earlier periods of human history, females had similar standing to men, or even dominated, resulting in more harmonious and more peaceful societies. Then, male-dominated systems emerged, ushering in centuries of strife and oppression.

The Roots of the Gender System Discussion

This concept of female-led societies and patriarchy as diametrically opposed—following a sudden transition between them—was seeded in the 1800s through socialist theory, influencing anthropological studies despite little proof. From there, it spread into public awareness.

Social scientists, however, tended to be less convinced. They documented great diversity in gender relations across human societies, including contemporary and past ones, and some theorized that such variety had been the norm in prehistory as well. Confirming this proved difficult, partly because determining physical sex—not to mention social gender—frequently proved hard in old skeletons. But about 20 years ago, that shifted.

A Breakthrough in Ancient DNA

The much-touted ancient DNA revolution—the capacity to extract DNA from ancient bones and study it—meant that suddenly it was feasible to determine the sex of long-dead people and to examine their family connections. The isotopic composition of their skeletal remains—particularly, the proportion of elemental variants present there—indicated whether they had resided in different places and experienced shifts in nutrition. The evidence coming to light due to these new tools shows that variety in sex roles was absolutely the norm in prehistory, and that there was not a definite turning point when one system gave way to its opposite.

Hypotheses on the Emergence of Male-Dominant Systems

One influential idea, in fact attributed to Marx’s collaborator, proposed that early societies were egalitarian before agriculture spread from the Near East about ten millennia back. With the more sedentary way of life and building up of wealth that agriculture introduced came the need to protect that property and to set rules for its inheritance. As populations grew, men took over the elites that formed to manage these affairs, partly because they were better at warfare, and wealth passed to the male line. Male kin were additionally inclined to remain in place, with their wives relocating to live with them. Female oppression was often a consequence of these shifts.

An alternative view, put forward by archaeologist a Lithuanian scholar in the mid-20th century, was that woman-centred societies dominated for longer in the continent—until five millennia back—after which they were toppled by arriving, male-ruled nomads from the plains.

Evidence of Female-Line Societies

Female-line descent (where property is inherited through the female line) and female-resident patterns (where women remain in one place) often co-occur, and both are linked with greater women’s standing and influence. In recent years, American scientists reported that for over 300 years during the 10th century, an elite mother-line group lived in a canyon site, in what is now the southwestern U.S.. Later, in a recent study, Chinese experts identified a female-line farming community that thrived for a comparable duration in China’s east, more than 3,000 years earlier. Such discoveries add to previous evidence, implying that matrilineal societies have existed on every inhabited landmasses, at least from the arrival of agriculture forward.

Influence and Autonomy in Ancient Societies

But, even if they possess greater standing, females in mother-line societies may not hold decision-making power. That generally stays the preserve of men—specifically of maternal uncles rather than their spouses. And since ancient DNA and isotopes don’t reveal much about women’s autonomy, sex-based hierarchies in ancient times continue to be a subject of debate. In fact, this line of work has forced scholars to consider what they understand by authority. If the wife of a king shaped his entourage via patronage and back channels, and his own policies by counselling, did she hold less influence than him?

Archaeologists have identified multiple examples of pairs sharing power in the bronze age—the period after those nomads came in the continent—and subsequent historical records confirm to high-status women influencing decisions in such ways, across the globe. Maybe they did so in earlier times. Women exerting soft power in male-dominated societies may even have predated Homo sapiens. In his 2022 book about sex and gender, a titled work, primatologist a noted scientist described how an dominant female chimp, Mama, chose a successor to the alpha male—her superior—with a gesture.

Factors Influencing Gender Relations

In recent years another aspect has emerged. While the theorist may have been generally right in linking property with patrilinearity, additional elements shaped sex roles, as well—including how a community makes a living. Recently, international researchers found that traditionally matrilineal villages in a highland region have grown more gender-neutral over the last 70 years, as they moved from an agricultural economy to a trade-focused one. Struggle additionally plays its part. While matrilocal and patrilocal societies are equally prone to conflict, notes anthropologist a Yale expert, within-group disputes—as opposed to war against an external enemy—pushes societies towards patrilocality, because warring clans prefer to have their sons close.

Females as Warriors and Leaders

Meanwhile, proof is accumulating that women fought, hunted and acted as spiritual leaders in the distant past. Not a single position or position has been barred to them in all times and places. And though female decision-makers may have been rare, they were not nonexistent. Recent ancient DNA findings from Trinity College Dublin demonstrate that there were no fewer than instances of matrilinearity throughout the British Isles, when ancient groups controlled the land in the metal period. Alongside physical finds for female warriors and ancient descriptions of female tribal chiefs, it looks as if Celtic women could exercise direct as well as indirect authority.

Contemporary Female-Line Societies

Mother-line societies persist today—a Chinese group are an example, as are the Hopi of the southwestern U.S., heirs of those Chaco Canyon lineages. These communities are declining, as state authorities flex their patriarchal influence, but they act as testaments that some extinct societies leaned more towards gender equality than numerous of our present-day ones, and that every culture have the capacity to change.