Women at the center: Life in a modern matriarchy

Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy. Peggy Reeves Sanday. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2002. 253 pp. ISBN 0-8014-4004-1. $29.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0-8014-8906-7. $19.95 (paper). Written in a clear style, this fascinating book is based on the author's two decades of fieldwork among the matrilineal Minangkabau tribe, one of the largest ethnic groups in Indonesia. This society describes itself as matriarchal, using the European-derived term "matriarchaat" for the purpose. Sanday investigates and analyzes this depiction. She challenges older malecentric theoretical approaches to gender, power, and social organization, which sought to locate female power and authority in mirror images of those of males, consequently rejecting the idea that there could be any meaningfully matriarchal societies in the modern world. Feminist critics of the latter approach label it as androcentric; the reason is that it neglects the social power of dominant maternal meanings because women do not follow masculine paths to power (e.g., politics or public life). Thus, from this perspective, no society could ever meet the definition of "matriarchal" as "it had been defined out of existence from the start" (p. xi). Sanday contends that "The concept of matriarchy is relevant in societies where maternal symbols are linked to social practices influencing the lives of both sexes and where women play a central role in these practices" (p. xii). Redefining gender relations and concepts of power, she proposes a new definition for the term matriarchy: "cultural symbols and practices associating the maternal with the origin and center of growth processes necessary for social and individual life" (p. 237). Sanday prefers to use the term matriarchy rather than other proposed terms (e.g., gylany, matrix, matrifocal, matricentric) that link sexes rather than rank them because of the respect accorded to local usage in the Minangkabau society: "adat matriarchaat." She thus aims to refurbish and retrieve the word. The book provides evidence for her contentions on key domains of social lives and relationships among the Minangkabau people. Matrilineal descent and inheritance, matrilocal residence, marriage practices, social identities strongly denned through female ancestry, and cultural symbols rooted in the maternal and nurturing aspects of nature all paint a picture of female valuation and sources of symbolic and economic status that contrast starkly with those found in patriarchal societies. Most remarkably, Sanday finds that domestic violence and rape, locally considered abhorrent and evil, are nearly absent in this society. How does this culture emphasizing matriliny and female power coexist with Islam, the predominant religion of the area, which is commonly viewed as patriarchal? The Minangkabau world view emphasizes cooperation, not dominion. Therefore, strands of diverse beliefs and practices are strongly intertwined in this culture, so that "adat," Islam, and the state government are seen as the three strands that form the rope that guides their lives. Rooted in primordial traditional stories and reinforced through ceremonies, social interaction, and myriad daily actions, adat is of core importance in upholding Minangkabau matriarchy. The complementary male and female practices of adat all focus on consensus, coexistence, and compromise. Therefore, genders are interlinked rather than ranked. Islam is practiced in this setting as a religion that ensures female value, emphasizes cooperation, and is defined as a mindset and a way of ordering relationships rather than a rigidly codified and enforced set of beliefs and practices. …