Editing Matriarchy (section)

==== Asia ====
Bangladesh

The [[Khasi people|Khasi]] and the [[Garo people|Garo]] people residing in the [[Sylhet Division|Sylhet]] and [[Mymensingh Division|Mymensingh]] regions are two of the top matriarchal societies of [[Bangladesh]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

===== Burma =====
Possible matriarchies in Burma are, according to Jorgen Bisch, the [[Kayan people (Burma)|Padaungs]]<ref>Bisch, Jorgen, ''Why Buddha Smiles'', p.&nbsp;71 (Ahu Ho Gong, Padaung chief: "no man can be chief over women. I am chief of the men. But women, well! Women only do what they themselves wish" & "it is the same with women all over the world", pp.&nbsp;52–53, & "no man can rule over women. They just do what they themselves want").{{Page needed|date=October 2013}}</ref> and, according to Andrew Marshall, the [[Bwe people|Kayaw]].<ref>Marshall, Andrew, ''The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire'' ({{ISBN|1-58243-120-5}}), p.&nbsp;213 ("Kayaw societies are strictly matriarchal.").</ref>

===== China =====
The [[Mosuo]] culture, which is in China near [[Tibet]], is frequently described as matriarchal.<ref>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/in-china-a-matriarchy-under-threat/article590590/ MacKinnon, Mark, ''In China, a Matriarchy Under Threat''], in ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), August 15, 2011, 11:55p.</ref> The term [[Matrilineality|matrilineal]] is sometimes used, and, while more accurate, still does not reflect the full complexity of their social organization. In fact, it is not easy to categorize Mosuo culture within traditional Western definitions. They have aspects of a matriarchal culture: women are often the head of the house, inheritance is through the female line, and women make business decisions. However, unlike in a true matriarchy, political power tends to be in the hands of men, and the current culture of the Mosuo has been heavily shaped by their minority status.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180112220704/http://www.mosuoproject.org/matri.htm Lugu Lake Mosuo Cultural Development Association, ''The Mosuo: Matriarchal/Matrilineal Culture'' (2006)]}}, retrieved July 10, 2011.</ref>

===== India =====
In India, of communities recognized in the [[Constitution of India|national Constitution]] as Scheduled Tribes, "some&nbsp;... [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 }},   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 University Press, 1994).</ref> "and thus have been known to be more egalitarian".<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mukherjee | first1 = Sucharita Sinha | year = 2013| title = Women's Empowerment and Gender Bias in the Birth and Survival of Girls in Urban India | journal = Feminist Economics | volume =  19| pages =  1–28| doi = 10.1080/13545701.2012.752312 | s2cid = 155056803 }}</ref> According to interviewer Anuj Kumar, [[Manipur]], India, "has a matriarchal society",<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article3682202.ece Kumar, Anuj, ''Let's Anger Her!'' (''sic'')<!-- The Sic template prematurely ends the link and shouldn't be used. -->, in ''The Hindu'', July 25, 2012], as accessed September 29, 2012 (whether statement was by Kumar or Kom is unknown).</ref> but this may not be scholarly. In Kerala, Nairs, Thiyyas, Brahmins of Payyannoor village and Muslims of North Malabar and in Karnataka, Bunts and Billavas follow the matrilineal system.

===== Indonesia =====
Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday has said that the [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]] society may be a matriarchy.<ref>Sanday, Peggy Reeves, ''Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy'' (Cornell University Press, 2002).{{Page needed|date=December 2016}}</ref>

===== Ancient Vietnam (before 43 CE) =====
According to William S. Turley, "the role of women in traditional Vietnamese culture was determined [partly] by&nbsp;... indigenous customs bearing traces of matriarchy",<ref name="WomenCommunRevVietnam-p793n1">{{cite journal |last1=Turley |first1=William S. |title=Women in the Communist Revolution in Vietnam |journal=Asian Survey |date=September 1972 |volume=12 |issue=9 |pages=793–805 |doi=10.2307/2642829|jstor=2642829 }}</ref> affecting "different social classes"<ref name="WomenCommunRevVietnam-p793n1" /> to "varying degrees".<ref name="WomenCommunRevVietnam-p793n1" /> [[Peter C. Phan]] explains that "the ancient Vietnamese family system was most likely matriarchal, with women ruling over the clan or tribe" until the Vietnamese "adopt[ed] ... the patriarchal system introduced by the Chinese."<ref>{{harvp|Phan|2005|loc=p.&nbsp;12 and see pp.&nbsp;13 & 32}} (the "three persons" apparently being the sisters Trung Trac and Trung Nhi in A.D. 40, per p.&nbsp;12, & Trieu Au in A.D. 248, per p.&nbsp;13).</ref><ref name="VietAmCatholics-p32">{{harvp|Phan|2005|p=32}}</ref> That being said, even after adopting the patriarchal Chinese system, Vietnamese women, especially peasant women, still held a higher position than women in most patriarchal societies.<ref name="VietAmCatholics-p32" /><ref>{{harvp|Phan|2005|p=33}}</ref> According to Chiricosta, the legend of [[Âu Cơ]] is said to be evidence of "the presence of an original 'matriarchy' in North Vietnam and [it] led to the double kinship system, which developed there&nbsp;.... [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 {{harvp|Roces|Edwards|2010|pp=125, 126}} (single quotation marks so in original).</ref>{{Efn|[[North Vietnam]], sovereign state until merged with South Vietnam in 1976}}{{Efn|[[Patrilineality|Patrilineal]], belonging to the father's lineage, generally for inheritance}} Chiricosta said that other scholars relied on "this 'matriarchal' aspect of the myth to differentiate Vietnamese society from the pervasive spread of Chinese Confucian patriarchy,"<ref>{{harvp|Roces|Edwards|2010|p=125}} (single quotation marks so in original).</ref>{{Efn|[[Confucianism]], ethics and philosophy derived from Confucius}} and that "resistance to China's colonization of Vietnam&nbsp;... [combined with] the view that Vietnam was originally a matriarchy&nbsp;... [led to viewing] women's struggles for liberation from (Chinese) patriarchy as a metaphor for the entire nation's struggle for Vietnamese independence," and therefore, a "metaphor for the struggle of the matriarchy to resist being overthrown by the patriarchy."<ref>{{harvp|Roces|Edwards|2010|p=125}} (parentheses so in original).</ref> According to [[Keith Taylor (historian)|Keith Weller Taylor]], "the matriarchal flavor of the time is&nbsp;... attested by the fact that Trung Trac's mother's tomb and spirit temple have survived, although nothing remains of her father",<ref>{{harvp|Taylor|1983|p=39}} (n.&nbsp;176 omitted).</ref> and the "society of the Trung sisters" was "strongly matrilineal".<ref>Both quotations: {{harvp|Taylor|1983|p=338}}</ref> According to Donald M. Seekins, an indication of "the strength of matriarchal values"<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898">Seekins, Donald M., ''Trung Sisters, Rebellion of (39–43)'', in Sandler, Stanley, ed., ''Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia'' (Santa Barbara California: ABC-Clio, hardcover 2002 ({{ISBN|1-57607-344-0}})), vol. 3, p. 898.</ref> was that a woman, [[Trưng Sisters|Trưng Trắc]], with her younger sister [[Trưng Sisters|Trưng Nhị]], raised an army of "over 80,000 soldiers&nbsp;... [in which] many of her officers were women",<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> with which they defeated the Chinese.<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> According to Seekins, "in [the year] 40, Trung Trac was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her"<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> and modern Vietnam considers the Trung sisters to be heroines.<ref name="TrungSisRebelGrndWarIntntnlEncyc-p898" /> According to Karen G. Turner, in the third century A.D., [[Lady Triệu]] {{Nowrap|"seem[ed]&nbsp;...}} to personify the matriarchal culture that mitigated Confucianized patriarchal norms&nbsp;.... [although] she is also painted as something of a freak&nbsp;... with her&nbsp;... savage, violent streak."<ref>Turner, Karen G., ''"Vietnam" as a Women's War'', in Young, Marilyn B., & Robert Buzzanco, eds., ''A Companion to the Vietnam War'' (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, hardback 2002 ({{ISBN|0-631-21013-X}})), pp.&nbsp;95–96 but see p.&nbsp;107.</ref>