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CEFR C2 — Proficiency

Matriarchal

Definition

(anthropology/sociology) Relating to or denoting a social system in which women hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. Often contrasted with patriarchal systems; collocates with 'society', 'culture', 'structure', 'lineage', 'tradition'.

Example Sentences

1The Mosuo people of southwestern China are frequently cited as an example of a matriarchal society, though anthropologists debate the precise terminology.
2Is it historically accurate to describe Minoan Crete as a matriarchal civilisation, or does the archaeological evidence suggest a more nuanced power structure?
3Bachofen's nineteenth-century theory of an ancient matriarchal stage of human development has been largely discredited by modern scholarship.
4Examine the matriarchal lineage systems of certain Native American tribes before drawing broad conclusions about gender and governance.
5There is a persistent utopian impulse in feminist literature to imagine a matriarchal order free from the violence associated with patriarchal rule.

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