What is the difference between a matriarchy and a patriarchy?

Answer 1

Patriarch does not mean 'men rule'...it means a system of government based on hierarchy and stratification.

Likewise, matriarch does not mean 'women rule'...it means a system of government based on consensus of those governed.

In pre-patriarchal societies the word father (pater) did not exist (other than "mother", which is one of the oldest words in all regions of the world). The word father as in our social concept "Patriarchy" does not mean the biological father who cares about his children...that would be "Daddy" and similar baby words in other languages. From the beginning the term was an abstract institutional expression of hierarchy and rulership. "Father" stood for the image of rulership.... the ruler as the law and as god (godfather, father in heaven etc.).

Just as a patriarchy does not mean 'men rule' (if that were the case then how do queens, female governors, female senators, VPs and presidents fit in?). The terms Patriarch and Matriarch concerning governmental function have nothing to do with physical gender...these terms directly refer to the nature of their governmental application. Matriarchy, specifically Matri- is from Greek mêtêr meaning mother....not female....and Greek archê meaning "beginning, origin"

--of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a mother

--to be the mother of; give origin or rise to

--to care for or protect like a mother; act maternally toward...to guide

--bearing a relation like that of a mother, as in being the origin, source, or protector: the mother company and its affiliates; the mother computer and its network of terminals. The company itself is not female nor is it necessarily run by females...and likewise, a computer has no gender.

Matriarchy is used in the sense of "motherly beginning" as a beginning of a cycle, because these societies are coined by cyclic thinking unlike linear. It begins with the people and, thus, returns to nourish the people. The national level of government was in place not to enact laws but simply to record the unanimous agreement of the people. They had no power to enact anything that the people did not agree to.

Answer 2

Patriarchal societies are those in which the "leaders" are male in gender. Matriarchal societies are those in which females are the "leaders".