Women and Power: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Societies from the Neolithic Age into The Modern Era

Abstract

Four societies ranging approximately 10,000 years and occupying disparate geographic regions are analyzed for similarities stemming from the fact that each of these societies either is either overtly or suspected of being more honoring of women and mothers in positions of domestic, political, and social leadership. Utilizing various methods of determination from archaeological records to ethnographic data, these cultures are found to have various similarities which are different from patriarchal customs more familiar to many modern people. These similarities are then compared with and projected into common modern modalities of culture and suggestions for how changes could be made to potentially normalize greater social equality across gender lines.