Societies in Balance. Re-thinking Matriarchy in modern Matriarchal Studies

Non-patriarchal societies are called “matriarchal” in the new field of modern Matriarchal Studies. A clear scientific definition of “matriarchy” has been missing until now. This has lead to the misunderstanding that matriarchy refers to “rule by women” and has conceived an longlasting, ideologically distorting prejudice towards it. This situation has been changed by modern Matriarchal Studies, which have been developing during the last decades and were presented by many scholars and indigenous speakers at three recent World Congresses on Matriarchal Studies in Europe and the USA. In this lecture, an outline of the deep structure of matriarchal societies (economical, social, political, cultural, medical) will be given which has been gained from cross-cultural research on still existing indigenous matriarchal societies all over the world. Matriarchies will be shown to be gender egalitarian and consensus based societies, creating actively peace and sustainablity by different most intelligent guide-lines. Some concrete societies of this type will be presented in short by indigenous matriarchal scholars from America and Africa. The relevance of modern Matriarchal Studies for the vision of a new sustainable society will be explored in terms of its economical and socio-political issues.