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{{Anthropology of kinship |concepts}}
'''Matrilineality''' is the tracing of [[kinship]] through the female line. It may also correlate with a [[social system]] in which each person is identified with their
== Early human kinship ==
In the late 19th century, almost all prehistorians and anthropologists believed, following [[Lewis H. Morgan]]'s influential book ''[[Ancient Society]]'', that early human kinship everywhere was matrilineal.<ref>Murdock, G. P. 1949. ''Social Structure''. London and New York: Macmillan, p. 185.</ref> This idea was taken up by [[Friedrich Engels]] in ''[[The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State]]''. The Morgan-Engels thesis that humanity's earliest domestic institution was not the [[family]] but the matrilineal [[clan]] soon became incorporated into [[Communist theory|communist orthodoxy]]. In reaction, most 20th century social anthropologists considered the theory of matrilineal priority untenable,<ref>Malinowski, B. 1956. ''Marriage: Past and Present. A debate between Robert Briffault and Bronislaw Malinowski,'' ed. M. F. Ashley Montagu. Boston: Porter Sargent.</ref><ref>Harris, M. 1969. ''The Rise of Anthropological Theory.'' London: Routledge, p. 305.</ref> although during the 1970s and 1980s, a range of [[feminism|feminist]] scholars often attempted to revive it.<ref>Leacock, E. B. 1981. ''Myths of Male Dominance. Collected articles on women cross-culturally.'' New York: Monthly Review Press.</ref>
In recent years, [[evolutionary biologist]]s, geneticists and [[palaeoanthropologist]]s have been reassessing the issues, many citing genetic and other evidence that early human kinship may have been matrilineal after all.<ref>Hrdy, S. B. 2009. ''Mothers and others. The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding.'' London and Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.</ref><ref>Knight, C. 2008. [http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/old/class_text_105.pdf Early human kinship was matrilineal.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407063411/http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/old/class_text_105.pdf |date=7 April 2014 }} In N. J. Allen, H. Callan, R. Dunbar and W. James (eds.), Early Human Kinship. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.
== Matrilineal surname == <!-- a target for links from other articles -->
{{Main|Matriname}}
{{further|Extinction of surnames}}
''Matrilineal'' [[surname]]s are names transmitted from mother to daughter, in contrast to the more familiar ''patrilineal surnames'' transmitted from father to son, the pattern most common among [[family name]]s today. For clarity and for brevity, the scientific terms ''patrilineal surname'' and ''matrilineal surname'' are usually abbreviated as ''patriname'' and ''[[matriname]]''.<ref name=sykes>Sykes, Bryan (2001). ''[[The Seven Daughters of Eve]]''. W.W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-02018-5}}; pp.
== Cultural patterns ==
There appears to be some evidence for the presence of matrilineality in [[Pre-Islamic Arabia]], in a very limited number of the Arabian peoples (first of all among the [[Amorites]] of Yemen, and among some strata of [[Nabateans]] in Northern Arabia);<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Korotayev | first1 = A. V. | year = 1995 | title = Were There Any Truly Matrilineal Lineages in the Arabian Peninsula? | url = https://www.academia.edu/27745315 | journal = Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies | volume = 25 | pages = 83–98 }}</ref>
A modern example from South Africa is the order of succession to the position of the [[Rain Queen]] in a culture of [[matrilineal succession|matrilineal primogeniture]]: not only is [[dynasty|dynastic]] descent reckoned through the female line, but only females are eligible to inherit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cogta.gov.za/?p=867|title=The Balobedu Queenship Recognised and Dignity Restored|date=2016-07-27|website=Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref>
In some traditional societies and cultures, membership in their groups was – and, in the following list, still ''is'' if shown in ''italics'' – inherited matrilineally. Examples include the [[Cherokee]], [[Choctaw]], ''[[Gitksan]]'', [[Haida people|Haida]], [[Hopi]], [[Iroquois]], [[Lenape]], [[Navajo people|Navajo]] and [[Tlingit people|Tlingit]] of [[North America]]; the ''[[Cabécar people|Cabécar]]'' and ''[[Bribri people|Bribri]]'' of Costa Rica; the ''[[Naso people|Naso]]'' and ''[[Kuna people]]'' of Panama; the ''[[Kogi people|Kogi]]'', ''[[Wayuu people|Wayuu]]'' and [[Kalina people|Carib]] of South America; the ''[[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]]'' people of [[West Sumatra]], [[Indonesia]] and [[Negeri Sembilan]], [[Malaysia]]; the ''[[Trobrianders]]'', ''[[Dobu]]'' and ''Nagovisi'' of Melanesia; the [[Nairs]], some [[Ezhava|Thiyyas]] & [[Muslims]] of [[Kerala]] and the [[Mogaveera]]s, [[Billava]]s & the [[Bunt (community)|Bunt]]s of [[Karnataka]] in south [[India]]; the ''[[Khasi people|Khasi]]'', ''[[Synteng|Jaintia]]'' and ''[[Garo (tribe)|Garo]]'' of [[Meghalaya]] in northeast India and [[Bangladesh]]; the ''[[Ngalop people|Ngalops]]'' and ''[[Sharchops]]'' of [[Bhutan]]; the ''[[Mosuo]]'' of [[China]]; the ''[[Kayah people|Kayah]]'' of Southeast Asia, the [[Picti]] of [[Scotland]], the [[Basques]] of [[Spain]] and [[France]]; the [[Ainu people|Ainu]] of [[Japan]], the ''[[Akan people|Akan]]'' including the ''[[Ashanti people|Ashanti]]'', ''[[Bono people|Bono]]'', ''[[Akwamu]]'', ''[[Fante people|Fante]]'' of [[Ghana]]; most groups across the so-called "[[matrilineal belt]]" of south-central Africa; the [[Nubians]] of Southern [[Egypt]] & [[Sudan]] and the ''[[Tuareg people|Tuareg]]'' of west and north Africa; the ''[[Serer people|Serer]]'' of [[Senegal]], [[The Gambia]] and [[Mauritania]].
=== Clan names vs. surnames ===
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Example 1. Members of the (matrilineal) clan culture [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]] do not even have a ''surname'' or ''family name'', see [[#Indonesia|this culture's own section]] below. In contrast, members do have a ''clan name'', which is important in their lives although not included in the member's name. Instead, one's name is just one's [[given name]].
Example 2. Members of the (matrilineal) clan culture [[Akan people|Akan]], see [[#Akan|its own section]] below, also do not have matrilineal ''surnames'' and likewise their important ''clan name'' is not included in their name. However, members' names do commonly include second names which ''are called surnames'' but which are ''not'' routinely passed down from either father or mother to all their children as a ''family name''.<ref>
Note well that if a culture did include one's ''clan name'' in one's name and routinely handed it down to all children in the ''descent group'' then it would automatically '''be''' the ''family name'' or ''surname'' for one's descent group (as well as for all other descent groups in one's clan).
=== Care of children ===
While a ''mother'' normally takes care of her own children in all cultures, in some matrilineal cultures an "uncle-father" will take care of his nieces and nephews instead: in other words ''social fathers'' here are uncles. There is not a necessary connection between the role of father and genitor. In many such matrilineal cultures, especially where residence is also [[matrilocal]], a man will exercise guardianship rights not over the children he fathers but over his sisters' children, who are viewed as 'his own flesh'. These children's biological father – unlike an uncle who is their mother's brother and thus their caregiver – is in some sense a 'stranger' to them, even when affectionate and emotionally close.<ref>Schneider, D. M. 1961. The distinctive features of matrilineal descent groups. Introduction. In Schneider, D. M. and K. Gough (eds) ''Matrilineal Kinship.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, pp.
According to [[Steven Pinker]], attributing to Kristen Hawkes, among foraging groups matrilocal societies are less likely to commit female infanticide than are patrilocal societies.<ref>Pinker, Steven, ''The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined'' (N.Y.: Viking, hardback 2011 ({{ISBN|978-0-670-02295-3}})), p. 421 (author prof. psychology, Harvard Univ.).</ref>
== Matrilineality in specific ethnic groups ==
===Africa ===
==== Akan ====
{{Main|Akan people|Abusua}}
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"The principles governing inheritance stress sex, generation and age – that is to say, men come before women and seniors before juniors." When a woman's brothers are available, a consideration of generational seniority stipulates that the line of brothers be exhausted before the right to inherit lineage property passes down to the next senior genealogical generation of sisters' sons. Finally, "it is when all possible male heirs have been exhausted that the females" may inherit.<ref name=com.au />
Each lineage controls the lineage land farmed by its members, functions together in the veneration of its ancestors, supervises marriages of its members, and settles internal disputes among its members.<ref>Owusu-Ansah, David (November 1994). http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+gh0048%29, "Ghana: The Akan Group". This source, "Ghana", is one of the Country Studies available from the US Library of Congress. Archived https://archive.
The political units above are likewise grouped into eight larger groups called ''[[abusua]]'' (similar to [[clan]]s), named Aduana, Agona, Asakyiri, Asenie, Asona, Bretuo, Ekuona and Oyoko. The members of each ''abusua'' are united by their belief that they are all descended from the same ancient ancestress. Marriage between members of the same ''abusua'' is forbidden. One inherits or is a lifelong member of the lineage, the political unit, and the ''abusua'' of one's mother, regardless of one's gender and/or marriage. Note that members and their spouses thus belong to different ''abusuas'', mother and children living and working in one household and their husband/father living and working in a different household.<ref name=2001book /><ref name=encyBr />
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A recent (2001) book<ref name=2001book /> provides this update on the Akan: Some families are changing from the above ''abusua'' structure to the [[nuclear family]].<ref name="de Witte 2001, p. 53">de Witte (2001), p. 53.</ref> Housing, childcare, education, daily work, and elder care etc. are then handled by that individual family rather than by the ''abusua'' or clan, especially in the city.<ref>de Witte (2001), p. 73.</ref> The above taboo on marriage within one's abusua is sometimes ignored, but "clan membership" is still important,<ref name="de Witte 2001, p. 53"/> with many people still living in the ''abusua'' framework presented above.<ref name=2001book />
====Guanches====
{{Main|Guanches}}
The [[Berbers|Berber]] inhabitants of [[Gran Canaria]] island had developed a matrilineal society by the time the [[Canary Islands]] and their people, called [[Guanches]], were conquered by the Spanish.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eK28BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8|title=An Archaeology of the Margins: Colonialism, Amazighity and Heritage Management in the Canary Islands|last=Jose Farrujia de la Rosa|first=Augusto|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2014|isbn=9781461493969|pages=8|language=en}}</ref>
==== Serer ====
{{Main|Serer maternal clans}}
The [[Serer people]] of [[Senegal]], the [[Gambia]] and [[Mauritania]] are patrilineal (''simanGol'' in [[Serer language]]<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Simone Kalis|Kalis, Simone]], "Médecine traditionnelle religion et divination chez les Seereer [[Kingdom of Sine|Sine]] du [[Senegal]]", La connaissance de la nuit, L'Harmattan (1997), p 299, {{ISBN|2-7384-5196-9}}</ref>) as well as matrilineal (''tim''<ref name="Serer 1">[[Marguerite Dupire|Dupire, Marguerite]], "Sagesse [[Serer people|sereer]] : Essais sur la pensée [[Ndut people|sereer ndut]], KARTHALA Editions (1994). For ''tim'' and ''den yaay'' (see p. 116). The book also deals in depth about the Serer matriclans and means of succession through the matrilineal line. See also pages : 38, 95–99, 104, 119–20, 123, 160, 172–4 {{in lang|fr}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=Fag2wuiV7t8C&q=Sagesse+sereer:essais+sur+la+pense+sereer+ndut] {{ISBN|2865374874}} (Retrieved : 4 August 2012)</ref>). There are several [[Serer maternal clans|Serer matriclans]] and [[:Category:Serer matriarchs|matriarchs]]. Some of these matriarchs include [[Lingeer Fatim Beye|Fatim Beye]] (1335) and [[Lingeer Ndoye Demba|Ndoye Demba]] (1367) – matriarchs of the [[Joos Maternal Dynasty|Joos matriclan]] which also became a dynasty in [[Waalo]] (Senegal). Some [[matriclan]]s or maternal clans form part of [[Serer history (medieval era to present)|Serer medieval]] and [[:Category:Serer royalty|dynastic]] history, such as the [[Guelowar]]s. The most revered clans tend to be rather ancient and form part of [[Serer ancient history]]. These [[Timeline of Serer history|proto-Serer]] clans hold great significance in [[Serer religion]] and [[Serer creation myth|mythology]]. Some of these proto-Serer matriclans include the ''Cegandum'' and ''Kagaw'', whose historical account is enshrined in Serer religion, mythology and [[traditions]].<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Henry Gravrand|Gravrand, Henry]], "La Civilisation Sereer – Cosaan", p 200, Nouvelles Editions africaines (1983), {{ISBN|2723608778}}</ref>
In Serer culture, inheritance is both matrilineal and patrilineal.<ref name="Serer 2"/> It all depends on the asset being inherited – i.e. whether the asset is a paternal asset – requiring paternal inheritance (''kucarla''<ref name="Serer 2"/> ) or a maternal asset – requiring maternal inheritance (''den yaay''<ref name="Serer 1"/> or ''ƭeen yaay''<ref name="Serer 2">{{in lang|fr}} Becker, Charles: "Vestiges historiques, trémoins matériels du passé clans les pays sereer", Dakar (1993), CNRS – ORS TO M. [http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_5/b_fdi_01/010014636.pdf Excerpt] (Retrieved : 4 August 2012)</ref>). The actual handling of these maternal assets (such as jewelry, land, livestock, equipment or furniture, etc.) is discussed in the subsection [[Serer maternal clans#Role of the Tokoor|Role of the Tokoor]] of one of the above-listed main articles.
==== Tuareg ====
<!-- This section heading is a redirect target for links from other articles -->
{{Main|Tuareg people}}
The [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] (Arabic:طوارق, sometimes spelled Touareg in French, or Twareg in English) are a large [[Berbers|Berber]] ethnic confederation found across several nations in north Africa, including [[Niger]], [[Mali]] and [[Algeria]]. The Tuareg are ''clan''-based,<ref name=Haven07>Haven, Cynthia (23 May 07). http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2007/pr-tuareg-052307.html, "New exhibition highlights the 'artful' Tuareg of the Sahara," Stanford University. Archived
Tuareg women enjoy high status within their society, compared with their [[Arab]] counterparts and with other Berber tribes: Tuareg social status is transmitted through women, with residence often [[Matrilocal residence|matrilocal]].<ref name=Spain92/> Most women could read and write, while most men were illiterate, concerning themselves mainly with herding livestock and other male activities.<ref name=Spain92/> The livestock and other movable property were owned by the women, whereas personal property is owned and inherited regardless of gender.<ref name=Spain92/> In contrast to most other Muslim cultural groups, men wear veils but women do not.<ref name=Haven07/><ref name=Review66/> This custom is discussed in more detail in the Tuareg article's [[Tuareg people#Clothing|clothing section]], which mentions it may be the protection needed against the blowing sand while traversing the [[Sahara|Sahara desert]].<ref>Bradshaw Foundation (2007 or later). http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/tuareg/index.php, "The Tuareg of the Sahara". Archived at
===
==== Bororo ====
{{Main|Bororo}}
The Bororo people of Brazil and Bolivia live in matrilineal clans, with husbands moving to live with their wives' extended families.
==== Bribri ====
{{Main|Bribri people}}
The clan system of the Bribri people of Costa Rica and Panama is matrilineal; that is, a child's clan is determined by the clan his or her mother belongs to. Only women can inherit land.
====
{{Main|
The social organization of the Cabécar people of Costa Rica is predicated on matrilineal clans in which the mother is the head of household. Each matrilineal clan controls marriage possibilities, regulates land tenure, and determines property inheritance for its members.
====
{{Main|Guna people}}
In the traditional culture of the [[Guna people]] of Panama and Colombia, families are matrilinear and matrilocal, with the groom moving to become part of the bride's family. The groom also takes the last name of the bride.
====
{{Main|Hopi people}}
The [[Hopi people|Hopi]] (in what is now the [[Hopi Reservation]] in northeastern [[Arizona]]), according to [[Alice Schlegel]], had as its "gender ideology ... one of female superiority, and it operated within a social actuality of sexual equality."<ref>[[Alice Schlegel|Schlegel, Alice]], ''Hopi Gender Ideology of Female Superiority'', in ''Quarterly Journal of Ideology: "A Critique of the Conventional Wisdom"'', vol. VIII, no. 4, 1984, p. 44 and see pp. 44–52 (essay based partly on "seventeen years of fieldwork among the Hopi", per p. 44 n. 1) (author of Dep't of Anthropology, Univ. of Ariz., Tucson).</ref> According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles ... are egalitarian .... [and] [n]either sex is inferior."<ref>LeBow, Diana, ''Rethinking Matriliny Among the Hopi'', ''op. cit.'', p. [8].</ref> LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in ... political decision-making."<ref>LeBow, Diana, ''Rethinking Matriliny Among the Hopi'', ''op. cit.'', p. 18.</ref> According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here"<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p44n1">Schlegel, Alice, ''Hopi Gender Ideology of Female Superiority'', ''op. cit.'', p. 44 n. 1.</ref> and "the attitude of female superiority is fading".<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p44n1" /> Schlegel said the Hopi "were and still are matrilinial"<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p45">Schlegel, Alice, ''Hopi Gender Ideology of Female Superiority'', ''op. cit.'', p. 45.</ref> and "the household ... was matrilocal".<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p45" />
Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good ... [with] the female principle ... activated in women and in Mother Earth ... as its source"<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p50" /> and that the Hopi "were not in a state of continual war with equally matched neighbors"<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p49">Schlegel, Alice, ''Hopi Gender Ideology of Female Superiority'', ''op. cit.'', p. 49.</ref> and "had no standing army"<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p49" /> so that "the Hopi lacked the spur to masculine superiority"<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p49" /> and, within that, as that women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)",<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p49" /> the [[Haudenosaunee Clan Mother|Clan Mother]], for example, being empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair,<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p50">Schlegel, Alice, ''Hopi Gender Ideology of Female Superiority'', ''op. cit.'', p. 50.</ref> since there was no "countervailing ... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure".<ref name="Schlegel-HopiGenderIdeoFemaleSuper-p50" />
==== Iroquois ====
{{Main|Iroquois}}
The [[Iroquois|Iroquois Confederacy or League]], combining five to six Native American [[Iroquois|Haudenosaunee]] nations or tribes before the [[United States|U.S.]] became a nation, operated by [[Great Law of Peace|The Great Binding Law of Peace]], a constitution by which women retained matrilineal-rights and participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war,<ref>Jacobs, Renée E., ''Iroquois Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution: How the Founding Fathers Ignored the Clan Mothers'', in ''American Indian Law Review'', vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 497–531, esp. pp. 498–509 (© author 1991).</ref> through what may have been a matriarchy<ref>Jacobs, Renée, ''Iroquois Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution'', in ''American Indian Law Review'', ''op. cit.'', pp. 506–507.</ref> or "gyneocracy".<ref>Jacobs, Renée, ''Iroquois Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution'', in ''American Indian Law Review'', ''op. cit.'', p. 505 & p. 506 n. 38, quoting Carr, L., ''The Social and Political Position of Women Among the Huron-Iroquois Tribes, Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology'', p. 223 (1884).</ref> The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown: the League was formed in approximately 1000–1450, but the constitution was oral until written in about 1880.<ref name="IroquoisGreatLawUSConst-p498">Jacobs, Renée, ''Iroquois Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution'', in ''American Indian Law Review'', ''op. cit.'', p. 498 & n. 6.</ref> The League still exists.
Other Iroquoian-speaking peoples such as the [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]] and the [[Meherrin]], that were never part of the Iroquois League, nevertheless have traditionally possessed a matrilineal family structure.
====
{{Main|
The Kogi people of northern Colombia practice bilateral inheritance, with certain rights, names or associations descending matrilineally.
==== Lenape ====
{{Main|Lenape}}
Occupied for 10,000 years by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], the land that is present-day [[New Jersey]] was overseen by [[clan]]s of the [[Lenape]], who farmed, fished, and hunted upon it. The pattern of their culture was that of a matrilineal agricultural and mobile hunting society that was sustained with fixed, but not permanent, settlements in their ''matrilineal clan'' territories. Leadership by men was inherited through the maternal line, and the women elders held the power to remove leaders of whom they disapproved.
Villages were established and relocated as the clans farmed new sections of the land when soil fertility lessened and when they moved among their fishing and hunting grounds by seasons. The area was claimed as a part of the Dutch [[New Netherland]] province dating from 1614, where active trading in furs took advantage of the natural pass west, but the Lenape prevented permanent settlement beyond what is now Jersey City.
"Early Europeans who first wrote about these Indians found matrilineal social organization to be unfamiliar and perplexing. As a result, the early records are full of 'clues' about early Lenape society, but were usually written by observers who did not fully understand what they were seeing."<ref>This quote is from [[Lenape]]'s [[Lenni-Lenape#Society|Society]] section.</ref>
==== Mandan ====
{{Main|Mandan}}
The Mandan people of the northern Great Plains of the United States historically lived in matrilineal extended family lodges.
==== Naso ====
{{Main|Naso people}}
The Naso (Teribe or Térraba) people of Panama and Costa Rica describe themselves as a matriarchal community, although their monarchy has traditionally been inherited in the male line.
==== Navajo ====
{{Main|Navajo}}
The Navajo people of the American southwest are a matrilineal society in which kinship, children, livestock and family histories are passed down through the female. In marriage the groom moved to live with the brides family. Children also came from their mother's clan living in hogans of the females family.
==== Tanana Athabaskan ====
{{Main|Tanana Athabaskans}}
The Tanana Athabaskan people, the original inhabitants of the Tanana River basin in Alaska and Canada, traditionally lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands.
==== Tsenacommacah (Powhatan Confederacy) ====
{{Main|Tsenacommacah}}
The [[Powhatan]] and other tribes of the [[Tsenacommacah]], also known as the Powhatan Confederacy, practiced a version of male-preference matrilineal [[Order of succession#Seniority|seniority]], favoring brothers over sisters in the current generation (but allowing sisters to inherit if no brothers remained), but passing to the next generation through the eldest female line. In ''A Map of Virginia'' [[John Smith of Jamestown]] explains:<blockquote>His <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Chief Powhatan]]'s] kingdome descendeth not to his sonnes nor children: but first to his brethren, whereof he hath 3 namely Opitchapan, [[Opechancanough]], and Catataugh; and after their decease to his sisters. First to the eldest sister, then to the rest: and after them to the heires male and female of the eldest sister; but never to the heires of the males.<ref>Smith, John. ''A Map of Virginia.'' Oxford: Joseph Barnes, 1612. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1008 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404050733/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1008 |date=4 April 2005 }}, also Repr. in ''The Complete Works of John Smith (1580–1631)''. Ed. Philip L. Barbour. Chapel Hill: University Press of Virginia, 1983. Vol. 1, pp. 305–63.</ref></blockquote>
==== Upper Kuskokwim ====
{{Main|Upper Kuskokwim people}}
The Upper Kuskokwim people are the original inhabitants of the Upper Kuskokwim River basin. They speak an Athabaskan language more closely related to Tanana than to the language of the Lower Kuskokkwim River basin. They were traditionally hunter-gatherers who lived in matrilineal semi-nomadic bands.
==== Wayuu ====
{{Main|Wayuu people}}
The Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela live in matrilineal clans, with paternal relationships in the background.
===Asia ===
==== China ==== <!-- a target for links from other articles -->
Originally, [[Chinese surname]]s were derived matrilineally,<ref name=naming>linguistics.berkeley.edu (2004). http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/~rosemary/55-2004-names.pdf, "Naming practices". A PDF file with a section on "Chinese naming practices (Mak et al., 2003)".</ref> although by the time of the [[Shang dynasty]] (1600 to 1046 [[BCE]]) they had become patrilineal.<ref name=Zhimin>{{cite journal |last1=Zhimin |first1=An |title=Archaeological Research on Neolithic China |journal=Current Anthropology |date=1988 |volume=29 |issue=5 |pages=753–759 |doi=10.1086/203698 |jstor=2743616 |s2cid=144920735 }}</ref>
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Archaeological data supports the theory that during the [[Neolithic]] period (7000 to 2000 [[BCE]]) in China, Chinese matrilineal clans evolved into the usual patrilineal families by passing through a transitional patrilineal clan phase.<ref name=Zhimin /> Evidence includes some "richly furnished" tombs for young women in the early Neolithic [[Yangshao]] culture, whose multiple other collective burials imply a matrilineal clan culture.<ref name=Zhimin /> Toward the late Neolithic period, when burials were apparently of couples, "a reflection of patriarchy", an increasing elaboration of presumed chiefs' burials is reported.<ref name=Zhimin />
Relatively isolated ethnic minorities such as the [[Mosuo]] (Na) in southwestern China are highly matrilineal.
==== India ====
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Of communities recognized in the [[Constitution of India|national Constitution]] as Scheduled Tribes, "some ... [are] matriarchal and matrilineal"<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1080/13545701.2012.752312 | volume=19 | title=Women's Empowerment and Gender Bias in the Birth and Survival of Girls in Urban India | year=2013 | journal=Feminist Economics | pages=1–28 | last1 = Sinha Mukherjee | first1 = Sucharita| s2cid=155056803 }}, p. 9, citing Srinivas, Mysore Narasimhachar, ''The Cohesive Role of Sanskritization and Other Essays'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989), & Agarwal, Bina, ''A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994).</ref> "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian."<ref>Mukherjee, Sucharita Sinha, ''Women's Empowerment and Gender Bias in the Birth and Survival of Girls in Urban India'', ''op. cit.'', p. 9.</ref> Several Hindu communities in South India practiced matrilineality, especially the [[Nair]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Panikkar|first=Kavalam Madhava|author-link=Kavalam Madhava Panikkar|date=July–December 1918|title=Some Aspects of Nayar Life|url=https://archive.org/stream/SomeAspectsOfNayarLife/SomeAspectsOfNayarLifeCopy#page/n0/mode/2up|journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|volume=48|pages=254–293|doi=10.2307/2843423|jstor=2843423|access-date=2011-06-09|ref=Panikkar1918}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Schneider|first=David Murray, and Gough, Kathleen (Editors)|title=Matrilineal Kinship|publisher=University of California Press|year=1961|isbn=9780520025295|location=Berkeley|pages=298–384 is the whole "Nayar: Central Kerala" chapter, for example}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=lfdvTbfilYAC Accessible here, via GoogleBooks.]</ref> (or ''Nayar'') and [[Ezhava|Tiyyas]]<ref>[[Thomas Nossiter|Nossiter, Thomas Johnson]] (1982). ''Kerala's Identity: Unity and Diversity''. In ''Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-04667-2}}. Retrieved 2011-06-09. P. 30.</ref> in the state of [[Kerala]], and the [[Bunt (community)|Bunts]] and [[Billava]] in the states of [[Karnataka]]. The system of inheritance was known as [[Marumakkathayam]] in the ''Nair'' community or [[Aliyasantana]] in the ''[[Bunt (community)|Bunt]]'' and the ''[[Billava]]'' community, and both communities were subdivided into [[clan]]s. This system was exceptional in the sense that it was one of the few traditional systems in western historical records of India that gave women some liberty and the right to property.
In the matrilineal system, the family lived together in a [[tharavadu]] which was composed of a mother, her brothers and younger sisters, and her children. The oldest male member was known as the ''karanavar'' and was the head of the household, managing the family estate. Lineage was traced through the mother, and the children belonged to the mother's family. In earlier days, [[surname]]s would be of the maternal side. All family property was jointly owned. In the event of a partition, the shares of the children were clubbed with that of the mother. The karanavar's property was inherited by his sisters' sons rather than his own sons. (For further information see the articles [[Nair]] and [[ambalavasi]] and [[Bunt (community)|Bunts]] and [[Billava]].) [[Amitav Ghosh]] has stated that, although there were numerous other matrilineal succession systems in communities of the south Indian coast, the Nairs "achieved an unparalleled eminence in the anthropological literature on matrilineality".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ghosh|first=Amitav|title=The Imam and the Indian: prose pieces.|year=2003|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=9788175300477|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQHp9wsWaZcC}} To access it via GoogleBooks, click on book title.</ref>
In the [[northeast India]]n state [[Meghalaya]], the [[Khasi people|Khasi]], [[Garo people|Garo]], [[Pnar people|Jaintia people]] have a long tradition of a largely matrilinear system in which the youngest daughter inherits the wealth of the parents and takes over their care.<ref name="Choudhury2016">{{cite book|author=Sanghamitra Choudhury|title=Women and Conflict in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWyFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT92|date=5 February 2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-55361-8|pages=92}}</ref>
====
{{Main|
In the [[Minangs|Minangkabau]] matrilineal [[clan]] culture in [[Indonesia]], a person's [[clan]] name is important in their marriage and their other cultural-related events.<ref name="Sanday">{{Cite journal |last=Sanday |first=Peggy Reeves |date=December 2002 |title=Commentary: Matriarchy and Islam Post-9/11: A Report from Indonesia |url=https://web.sas.upenn.edu/psanday/reports/matriarchy-and-islam-post-911-a-report-from-indonesia/ |journal=Anthropology News |volume=43 |issue=9 |pages=7-7 |doi=10.1111/an.2002.43.9.7}}</ref><ref name=SandayBk>Sanday, Peggy Reeves (2004). ''Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy''. Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-8906-7}}. Parts of this book are available online at books.google.com</ref><ref name=Caitlin>Fitzsimmons, Caitlin (21Oct09). http://www.roamingtales.com/2009/10/21/a-matrilineal-islamic-society-in-sumatra/, "A matrilineal, Islamic society in Sumatra". Archived https://archive.today/20130202004556/http://www.roamingtales.com/2009/10/21/a-matrilineal-islamic-society-in-sumatra/ on 2 February 2013.</ref> Two totally unrelated people who share the same clan name can never be married because they are considered to be from the same clan mother (unless they come from distant villages). Likewise, when [[Minangs]] meet total strangers who share the same clan name, anywhere in Indonesia, they could theoretically expect to feel that they are distant relatives.<ref>Sanday 2004, p.67</ref> Minang people do not have a family name or surname; neither is one's important clan name included in one's name; instead one's [[given name]] is the only name one has.<ref>Sanday 2004, p.241</ref>
The [[Minangs]] are one of the world's largest matrilineal societies/cultures/ethnic groups, with a population of 4 million in their home province [[West Sumatra]] in Indonesia and about 4 million elsewhere, mostly in Indonesia. The Minang people are well known within their country for their tradition of matrilineality and for their "dedication to Islam" – despite Islam being "supposedly patrilineal".<ref name=Sanday /> This well-known accommodation, between their traditional complex of customs, called [[adat]], and their religion, was actually worked out to help end the Minangkabau 1821–37 [[Padri War]].<ref name=Sanday />
The [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]] are a prime example of a matrilineal culture with female inheritance. With Islamic religious background of [[complementarian]]ism and places a greater number of men than women in positions of religious and political power. Inheritance and proprietorship pass from mother to daughter. <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Peletz|first1=Michael G.|title=The King Is Dead; Long Live the Queen!|journal=American Ethnologist|date=2005|volume=32|issue=1|pages=39–41|jstor=3805147|doi=10.1525/ae.2005.32.1.39}}</ref>
Besides Minangkabau, several other ethnics in Indonesia are also matrilineal and have similar culture as the Minangkabau. They are Suku Melayu Bebilang, Suku Kubu and Kerinci people. Suku Melayu Bebilang live in Kota Teluk Kuantan, Kabupaten Kuantan Singingi (also known as Kuansing), Riau. They have similar culture as the Minang. Suku Kubu people live in Jambi and South Sumatera. They are around 200 000 people. Suku Kerinci people mostly live in Kabupaten Kerinci, Jambi. They are around 300 000 people {{citation needed|date=March 2020}}
====Kurds====
{{Main|Mangur (Kurdish tribe)|Mokryan}}
Matrilineality was occasionally practiced by mainstream [[Sorani]], [[Zazas|Zaza]], [[Feyli (Kurdish tribe)|Feyli]], [[Gorani people|Gorani]], and [[Alevi]] [[Kurds]], though the practice was much rarer among non-[[Alevi]] [[Kurmanji]]-speaking [[Kurds]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Kevin McKiernan|title=The Kurds|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdspeopleinsea00mcki|url-access=registration|date=7 March 2006|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=9780312325466}}</ref>
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The [[Mangur (Kurdish tribe)|Mangur]] clan of the, Culturally, [[Mokri (surname)|Mokri]] tribal confederation and, politically, [[Bolbas Federation]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Minorsky |first1=V. |title=Mongol Place-Names in Mukri Kurdistan |journal=Mongolica |date=1957 |volume=19 |issue=1 |page=75 |jstor=609632 }}</ref> is an enatic clan, meaning members of the clan can only inherit their mothers last name and are considered to be a part of the mothers family. The entire Mokri tribe may have also practiced this form of enaticy before the collapse of their emirate and its direct rule from the Iranian or Ottoman state, or perhaps the tradition started because of depopulation in the area due to raids.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abdurrahman Sharafkandi|title=Çêştî Micêvir}}</ref>
====
{{Main|Adat perpatih}}
A culture similar to lareh bodi caniago, practiced by the [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]], is the basis for ''[[adat perpatih]]'' practices in the state of [[Negeri Sembilan]] and parts of [[Malacca]] as a product of West Sumatran migration into the [[Malay Peninsula]] in the 15th century.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://go2travelmalaysia.com/tour_malaysia/ns_historical.htm | title=Negeri Sembilan – History and Culture | access-date=4 March 2017 | archive-date=28 July 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728154442/http://go2travelmalaysia.com/tour_malaysia/ns_historical.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://museumvolunteersjmm.com/2016/04/04/the-minangkabau-of-negeri-sembilan/ | title=The Minangkabau of Negeri Sembilan| date=2016-04-04}}</ref>
==== Sri Lanka ====
{{Further|India}}
Matrilineality among the [[Muslims]] and [[Tamils]] in the Eastern Province of [[Sri Lanka]] arrived from [[Kerala]], India via Muslim traders before 1200 CE.<ref>Ruwanpura, Kanchana N. (2006). ''Matrilineal Communities, Patriarchal Realities: A Feminist Nirvana Uncovered''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, paperback ({{ISBN|978-0-472-06977-4}})(fieldwork in 1998–'99 during the [[Sri Lankan civil war]], per p. 45); see p. 51.</ref><ref>This page 51 of the Ruwanpura book is accessible online via Google Books (books.google.com). The book's TOC and pages 1–11 and 50–62 are currently accessible.</ref><ref>[[Dennis B. McGilvray|McGilvray, Dennis B.]] (1989). "Households in Akkaraipattu: Dowry and Domestic Organization among Matrilineal Tamils and Moors of Sri Lanka," in J. N. Gray and D. J. Mearns (eds.) ''Society From the Inside Out: Anthropological Perspectives on the South Asian Household'', pp. 192–235. London: Sage Publications.</ref> Matrilineality here includes [[kinship]] and social organization, inheritance and property rights.<ref>Humphries, Jane (1993). "Gender Inequality and Economic Development," in Dieter Bos (ed) ''Economics in a Changing World, Volume 3: Public Policy and Economic Organization.'' New York: St. Martin's Press; pp. 218–33.</ref><ref name=Agarwal1996 /><ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 1. Accessible online as above.</ref> For example, "the mother's [[dowry]] property and/or house is passed on to the eldest daughter."<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 53. Accessible online as above.</ref><ref>McGilvray, 1989, pp. 201–2.</ref> The [[Sinhalese people]] are the third ethnic group in eastern Sri Lanka,<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp. 3–4(accessible online as above) and p. 39.</ref> and have a kinship system which is "intermediate" between that of matrilineality and that of [[patrilineality]],<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 72.</ref><ref>Yalman, Nur (1971). ''Under the Bo Tree: Studies in Caste, Kinship, and Marriage in the Interior of Ceylon.'' Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref> along with "bilateral inheritance", intermediate between matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance.<ref name=Agarwal1996 /><ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 71.</ref> While the first two groups speak the [[Tamil language]], the third group speaks the [[Sinhala language]]. The Tamils largely identify with [[Hinduism]], the Sinhalese being primarily [[Buddhist]].<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp. 3–4. Accessible online as above.</ref> The three groups are about equal in population size.<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 39.</ref>
[[Patriarchal]] social structures apply to all of Sri Lanka, but in the [[Eastern Province, Sri Lanka|Eastern Province]] are mixed with the matrilineal features summarized in the paragraph above and described more completely in the following subsection:
According to Kanchana N. Ruwanpura, [[Eastern Province, Sri Lanka|Eastern Sri Lanka]] "is highly regarded even among" [[Feminist economics|feminist economists]] "for the relatively favourable position of its women, reflected" in women's equal achievements in [[Human Development Index|Human Development Indices]] "(HDIs) as well as matrilineal and" [[bilateral descent|bilateral]] "inheritance patterns and property rights".<ref>Ruwanpura, (2006), p.1. Accessible online as above.</ref><ref>Humphries, 1993, p. 228.</ref>
She also conversely argues that "''feminist economists'' need to be cautious in applauding Sri Lanka's gender-based achievements and/or matrilineal communities",<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 3. Accessible online as above.</ref> because these matrilineal communities coexist with "''patriarchal'' structures and ideologies" and the two "can be strange but ultimately compatible bedfellows",<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 10 and see p. 6 ("prevalence of patriarchal structures and ideologies"). Accessible online as above.</ref> as follows:
She "positions Sri Lankan women within gradations of ''patriarchy'' by beginning with a brief overview of the main religious traditions," [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]], and [[Islam]], "and the ways in which patriarchal interests are promoted through religious practice" in Eastern Sri Lanka (but without being as repressive as classical patriarchy).<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp. 4–5. Accessible online as above.</ref> Thus, "feminists have claimed that Sri Lankan women are relatively well positioned in the" [[South Asian]] region,<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 4. Accessible online as above.</ref><ref name=Agarwal1996>Agarwal, Bina (1996). ''A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia.'' New Delhi: Cambridge University Press. (First edition was 1994.)</ref> despite "patriarchal institutional laws that ... are likely to work against the interests of women," which is a "co-operative conflict" between women and these laws.<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 182.</ref> (Clearly "female-heads have no legal recourse" from these laws which state "patriarchal interests".)<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 182 (both quotations).</ref> For example, "the economic welfare of female-heads [heads of households] depends upon networks" ("of kin and [matrilineal] community"), "networks that mediate the patriarchal-ideological nexus."<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, pp. 145–146.</ref> She wrote that "some female heads possessed" "feminist consciousness"<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 142 (both quotations).</ref>{{Efn|Feminist [[consciousness raising]], a means of raising awareness of a feminist perspective or subject}} and, at the same time, that "in many cases female-heads are not vociferous feminists ... but rather 'victims' of patriarchal relations and structures that place them in precarious positions.... [while] they have held their ground ... [and] provided for their children".<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 37.</ref>
On the other hand, she also wrote that feminists including [[Malathi de Alwis]] and [[Kumari Jayawardena]] have criticized a romanticized view of women's lives in Sri Lanka put forward by Yalman, and mentioned the Sri Lankan case "where young women raped (usually by a man) are married-off/required to cohabit with the rapists!"<ref>Ruwanpura, 2006, p. 76 n. 7.</ref>
==== Vietnam====
Most ethnic groups classified as "([[Montagnard (Vietnam)|Montagnards]], [[Austronesian peoples|Malayo-Polynesian]] and [[Austroasian]])" are matrilineal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,463af2212,469f2f9a2,49749c7e16,0.html|title=UNHCR – Document Not Found|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|last=Refugees|website=UNHCR}}</ref>
On [[North Vietnam]], according to Alessandra Chiricosta, the legend of [[Âu Cơ]] is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' ... and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there .... [and which] combined matrilineal and patrilineal patterns of family structure and assigned equal importance to both lines."<ref>Chiricosta, Alessandra, ''Following the Trail of the Fairy-Bird: The Search For a Uniquely Vietnamese Women's Movement'', in Roces, Mina, & Louise P. Edwards, eds., ''Women's Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism'' (London or Oxon: Routledge, pbk. 2010 ({{ISBN|978-0-415-48703-0}})), p. 125 and see p. 126 (single quotation marks so in original) (author Chiricosta philosopher & historian of religions, esp. intercultural philosophy, religious & cultural dialogue, gender, & anthropology, & taught at La Sapienza (univ.), Urbaniana (univ.), & Roma Tre (univ.), all in Italy, School of Oriental & African Studies, & Univ. of Ha Noi).</ref>{{Efn|[[Patrilineality|Patrilineal]], belonging to the father's lineage, generally for inheritance}}
===Europe===
====Ancient Greece====
While men held positions of religious and political power, the Spartan constitution mandated that inheritance and proprietorship pass from mother to daughter.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ppGCbh8ggUs Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170911155752/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppGCbh8ggUs Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppGCbh8ggUs|title=The Constitution of the Spartans|last=Historia Civilis|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
====Ancient Scotland====
In Pictish society, succession in leadership (later kingship) was matrilineal (through the mother's side), with the reigning chief succeeded by either his brother or perhaps a nephew but not through patrilineal succession of father to son.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/picts/|encyclopedia=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|title=Picts}}</ref>
===Oceania ===
Some oceanic societies, such as the [[Marshallese people|Marshallese]] and the Trobrianders,<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/argonautsofthewe032976mbp/argonautsofthewe032976mbp_djvu.txt Malinowski, Bronisław. ''Argonauts Of The Western Pacific''], esp. or only chaps. I, II, & VI.</ref> the [[Palauans]],<ref>[http://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Palau.html The Palauan culture]</ref> the [[Yapese people|Yapese]]<ref>[http://www.everyculture.com/Oceania/Yap-Kinship.html The Yapese kinship]</ref> and the Siuai,<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1525/aa.1950.52.2.02a00140 | volume=52 | issue=2 | title=Studies in the Anthropology of Bougainville, Solomon Islands. Douglas L. Oliver. | journal=American Anthropologist | pages=250–251| year=1950 | last1=Hogbin | first1=H. Ian }}</ref> are characterized by matrilineal descent. The sister's sons or the brothers of the decedent are commonly the successors in these societies.
== Matrilineal identification within Judaism ==
{{Main|Matrilineality in Judaism}}
Matrilineality in Judaism or matrilineal descent in Judaism is the tracing of [[Judaism|Jewish]] descent through the maternal line. Close to all Jewish communities have followed matrilineal descent from at least early [[Tannaim|Tannaitic]] (c. 10–70 CE) times through modern times.<ref name="autogenerated14">Reviewed by [[Louis Jacobs]], [https://louisjacobs.org/articles/there-is-no-problem-of-descent/] Originally published in Judaism 34.1 (Winter 1985), 55–59.</ref>
The origins and date-of-origin of matrilineal descent in Judaism are uncertain. [[Orthodox Judaism]] maintains that matrilineal descent is an [[Oral Law]] from at least the time of the Receiving of the Torah on [[Mount Sinai]] (c. 1310 BCE).<ref name="auto">[[Numbers Rabbah]] 19:3</ref> According to some modern academic opinions, it was likely instituted in either the early [[Tannaim|Tannaitic period]] (c. 10–70 CE) or the time of [[Ezra]] (c. 460 BCE).<ref name="autogenerated14"/>
In practice, Jewish denominations define "[[Who is a Jew?]]" via descent in different ways. All denominations of Judaism have protocols for [[Conversion to Judaism|conversion]] for those who are not Jewish by descent.
[[Orthodox Judaism
In 1983, the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] of [[Reform Judaism]] passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent, provided that either (a) one is raised as a Jew, by Reform standards, or (b) one engages in an appropriate act of public identification, formalizing a practice that had been common in Reform synagogues for at least a generation. This 1983 resolution departed from the Reform Movement's previous position requiring formal conversion to Judaism for children without a Jewish mother.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/reform-movement-s-resolution-on-patrilineal-descent-march-1983|title=Reform Movement's Resolution on Patrilineal Descent (March 1983)|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> However, the closely associated [[Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism]] has rejected this resolution and requires formal conversion for anyone without a Jewish mother.<ref>[http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=840313&ct=1051515 Reform Judaism in Israel: Progress and Prospects] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114546/http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=840313&ct=1051515 |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref>
==Exception for the enslaved in the United States==
In the United States, the offspring of enslaved women inherited their mother's status. A significant consequence of this is that children resulting from rape or unions between enslaved women and their owners did not have any of the rights of the father as they would have had under the patrilineal succession that applied to everyone but the enslaved.
== In mythology ==
Line 207 ⟶ 239:
== See also ==
* [[Ruth Bré]], advocate for matrilineality
* [[List of matrilineal or matrilocal societies]]
* [[Married and maiden names]]
* ''[[Mater semper certa est]]'', "the mother is always certain" – until 1978 and ''in vitro'' pregnancies.
* [[Matriarchy]]
* [[Matrifocal family]]
* ''[[Partus sequitur ventrem]]''
* [[Wehali]]
== Notes ==
Line 226 ⟶ 258:
* Cameron, Anne (1981) ''Daughters of Copper Woman''. Press Gang Publishers.
* Holden, C. J. & Mace, R. (2003). Spread of cattle led to the loss of matrilineal descent in Africa: a coevolutionary analysis. ''The Royal Society'' [http://courses.washington.edu/evpsych/Holden%20&%20Mace%20-%20matriliny%20and%20cattle%20-%20PRSL%202003.pdf Full text]
* Holden, C.J., Sear, R. & Mace, R. (2003) Matriliny as daughter-biased investment. ''Evolution & Human Behavior 24:''
* Knight, C. 2008. Early human kinship was matrilineal. In N. J. Allen, H. Callan, R. Dunbar and W. James (eds.), Early Human Kinship. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 61–82.[http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/old/class_text_105.pdf Full text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407063411/http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/old/class_text_105.pdf |date=7 April 2014 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Sear | first1 = R | year = 2008 | title = Kin and child survival in rural Malawi: Are matrilineal kin always beneficial in a matrilineal society? | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225787815| journal = Human Nature | volume = 19 | issue = 3| pages = 277–293 | doi=10.1007/s12110-008-9042-4| pmid = 26181618 | s2cid = 40826492 }}
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[[Category:Kinship and descent]]
[[Category:Matriarchy]]
[[Category:Order of succession]]
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