matriarchy

/ˌmeɪtriˈɑrki/

/ˈmeɪtriɑki/

Other forms: matriarchies

If you ever heard "Just wait until your mother gets home!" when you did something wrong as a child, you may have grown up in a matriarchy. In a matriarchy, women call the shots.

The word matriarchy, pronounced "MAY-tree-ar-kee," derives from the Latin word mater, meaning “mother,” and archein, or "to rule." A matriarchy is a social system is which women have more power in the community than men. Matriarchy can also be used more broadly to describe a family that is ruled by a powerful woman. The opposite of matriarchy is patriarchy, a system in which men are the ones holding the power.

Definitions of matriarchy

1. noun

   a form of social organization in which a female is the family head and title is traced through the female line
   synonyms: matriarchate

   type of:

   social organisation, social organization, social structure, social system, structure

   the people in a society considered as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships