By Dr Emma
What if the world were run by women?
I recently noticed that I have an underlying sense of frustration pretty much all the time. I knowledge we’ve just come through a pandemic and that we have a cost of living crisis but there’s an underlying sense of resignation and lack of hope.
This was probably fuelled by the recent release of the gender pay gap statistics which have been justified as an inevitable product of biology and social roles as well as occupational segregation; meaning basically women have children so therefore they can’t work as much and so shouldn’t earn as much.
The fact remains that the system is geared to survival of the fittest in a monetary hierarchy with the goal of knocking out the competition. With the recent demise of our profit-supporting government, we have seen the consequence of neglect in areas of health, the care sector and a broad-based checks-and-balances approach to decision-making.
The concurrent rise of megalomaniacs around the world has resulted in uncertainty and fear, adopting a defensive position, world-wide.
As we approach international women’s day, I can reflect on progress for women from being the bearers of the next generation to current progressive attitudes imagining a life not dictated by traditional gender roles.
Social Science defines matriarchal qualities as the following:
Independent
Autonomous
Nurturing
Strong communal bonds
Wise
Supporting
Instinctual
Empathetic
Collaborative
Assertive
Charismatic
Experienced
However, the majority of leaders appear to lack many of these qualities and if the matriarchal qualities will prevail in such positions, surely this would only contribute to potential solutions rather than conflict.
Consider the DC character Wonder Woman’s and her home Paradise Island. This was created by the author as an allegory to the safety and security of the home where women thrive apart from the hostile, male-dominated work place- interesting that they isolated but developed a warrior defence.
The antipodean equivalent, Xena Warrior Princess was looking to aid those who are defenceless and her companion helps her to recognise and pursue the greater good.
There are real life examples of societies considered rooted in the concept of a matriarchy:
The Myth Of Matriarchy Prehistory book by Cynthia Eller looks at ancient matriarchs.
Areas in Africa have a number of ruling queens (shown in the book and film The African Queen, and Netflix docudrama African Queens):
The Philippines genders share the power:
The Khasi children in India take their mother’s name: and
The Musuo in China have elected female heads of shared households and are free to take different sexual partners.
An interesting social experiment would be to put unconscious gender bias aside and at least include these qualities in leadership and actively promote equal representation at the leadership table.
I recently joined the board for the YWCA Hunter region, comprised of women. In this arena, we have discussed the language of inclusion in that space. I look forward to active inclusion in all areas of leadership for women and will join the International Women’s Day march in Newcastle this weekend. We start at 10am from Birdwood Park on Saturday 12 March.
