Matriarchy

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Matriarchy

Matriarchy, or mother rule, refers to female supremacy in a social institution such as a family, state, or religion. Since the vast majority of the world's religions are patriarchal, such institutions are found, if at all, at the margins of contemporary American religion, and even those that have been labeled matriarchal are subject to continued scholarly debate.

Until fairly recently, it was held that some Native American religions may have been matriarchal. Among the Iroquois, for example, families were matrilineal, creation myths centered on a goddess, women called "faith keepers" were in charge of organizing religious rituals, and a woman called the "chief's matron" held the set of wampum beads that gave her the power to depose or install a new chief. However, more recent research suggests that there were significant checks on female power: It was male singers and dancers who actually performed most rituals, women could never be chief, and the matron's decisions could be overridden by a council. The perception that Iroquois religion was matriarchal simply reflected the bias of Victorian scholars, who viewed any system that treated women closer to equally than nineteenth-century Christianity as female-dominated.

Several American Christian sects are labeled matriarchal, including the Shakers (founded by Ann Lee) in the eighteenth century, Christian Science (Mary Baker Eddy) and Spiritualism (the Fox sisters) in the nineteenth century, and various Pentecostal sects (e.g., Aimee S. McPherson's Foursquare Gospel Church) in the twentieth century. Although all of these religions were headed by women, this does not necessarily make them matriarchal. To deserve that label, a religion must institutionalize female supremacy, and there is little evidence that these groups did. Lee and Eddy developed theologies about a mother-father God and used them to justify gender equality, not female rule. A number of local Christian Science churches were led by women, but after Eddy's death the national organization was frequently headed by men. The Shakers required that colonies be governed by male-female pairs, but the division of labor in their settlements maintained conventional gender roles (women in the kitchen, men in the fields). Most spiritualist churches did not last beyond the life of their charismatic founder, and the Foursquare Gospel Church no longer permits women to head a congregation.

Various new religions outside Christianity have taken matriarchal form, including Theosophy (founded by Helena Blavatsky) in the nineteenth century, and more recently Siddha Yoga (currently led by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda) and Vodun (Vodou or Voodoo). Drawing on Eastern philosophy, the first two religions see their leaders as the current incarnation in a long lineage of spiritual leaders who can be either male or female. Matriarchy in this case is temporary, an accident of birth, rather than a religious institution (and, indeed, Blavatsky's successor was male). Female rule is not institutionalized in Vodun either, as many Vodun priests in Haiti are male. Karen McCarthy Brown has written about a Vodun priestess in Brooklyn, New York, who continues in a long family line of female religious leaders. But matriarchy in such cases may arise more from necessity (the absence of men in poor families) than from an ideology of female supremacy.

It is not until the middle of the twentieth century and the birth of the Goddess (or feminist spirituality) movement that we see the emergence of what might be called institutionalized matriarchy. Drawing on Neopagan themes, the theology of these groups emphasizes the centrality of female divinity, and rituals are led by and sometimes are exclusively open to women. The most prominent leaders of this movement (Starhawk, Budapest) seek to restore what they believe was a universal female-dominated religion that preceded and was suppressed by Judeo-Christian patriarchy. This religion, they claim, will liberate all people because, unlike patriarchal religions, which oppress women, the ancient matriarchies treated men and women equally.

These are highly contentious claims, even within feminist circles. First, there is considerable debate over the existence of a universal matriarchal religion that preceded the patriarchal norm. The theory was first suggested by Victorian scholars who found numerous female figurines in India and concluded that this pointed to goddess worship. They also observed that some tribal religions, particularly agricultural ones, had myths in which a goddess creates the world and rituals in which women participate in significant ways. The theory was then expanded by twentieth-century archaeologists who made similar findings in the Middle East and Europe. It posited that goddess-worshiping cultures (e.g., in Mesopotamia or in the Indus valley) were peaceful, agricultural settlements who were overrun by nomadic, warlike tribes (e.g., Hebrews, Arians) who incorporated formerly independent and powerful goddesses as lesser deities into their male pantheon and subordinated human women to men. Yet, as some critics point out, female figurines may not have been goddesses but a form of "Paleolithic pornography." Even if the figurines were goddesses, we cannot assume that worshiping them translated into higher status for human women. Goddesses of love and fertility were important in ancient Greece and Roman; yet most women were the property of men and had few rights beyond those of slaves. Since the medieval period, Mahadevi (the Great Goddess) has been perhaps the most popular divinity in Hinduism, worshiped by millions of men and women; yet women could not become priestesses and, according to the Laws of Manu, were always to be kept under the control of a man. And even if goddess worship was accompanied by female power in some ancient societies, there is simply not enough evidence to suggest that matriarchal religion was universal.

Second, critics have contested the claim that matriarchal religion will liberate all human beings. The claim is based on the assumption that, although patriarchal religions oppress women, matriarchal religion would not oppress men because women are different—more nurturing, cooperative, and flexible. Ann Lee of the Shakers, for example, established gender-balanced—not female-dominated—religious leadership, and in many of today's Goddess groups leadership rotates among all members. Yet, as critics point out, patriarchal religion does not always oppress women. As studies of Christian and Jewish conservatives have indicated, there is a difference between official authority (usually assigned to men) and actual power (sometimes wielded by women). Thus some fundamentalist women feel that patriarchal religion is the best way to protect their interests. Matriarchal religion will not liberate women unless it incorporates a theology that institutionalizes women's power. As the examples of the Shakers and Christian Science illustrate, even with such a theology, old habits die hard.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is still no consensus as to whether characteristics such as nurturing or cooperation come naturally to women or are simply products of patriarchal social conditioning. To assert that women are radically different from men is exactly the kind of essentialism that, for most of human history, has kept women enslaved.

Bibliography

Arenal, Electa, and Stacey Schlau. Untold Sisters: Hispanic Nuns in Their Own Words. 1989.

Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestessin Brooklyn. 1991.

McNamara, Joann Kay. Sisters in Arms: Catholic NunsThrough Two Millennia. 1996.

Sered, Susan S. Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sister: ReligionsDominated by Women. 1994.

Shimony, Annemarie. "Women of Influence and Prestige Among the Native American Iroquois." In N. Falk and R. Gross, eds., Unspoken Worlds: Women'sReligious Lives. 1989.

Spretnak, Charlene, ed. Women's Spirituality: Essays onthe Rise of Spiritual Power within the Feminist Movement. 1982.

Wessinger, Catherine, ed. Women's Leadership in Marginal Religions. 1993.

Christel Manning

Contemporary American Religion