Across the anthropological record, no purely matriarchal society has ever been documented.

Even in egalitarian societies, women's social influence typically remains less than that of high-status men.

Coercive dominance is a viable path to leadership for men but often a liability for women.

Among the Hamar, women serve as third-party mediators in interpersonal and inter-gender conflicts.

In Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story of a community long isolated, home only to women who reproduce without men. There are no wars, no conflict, and little inequality. Her 20th-century story of a feminist utopia is a critical commentary on the nature of patriarchy and a science-fiction thought experiment on women’s leadership and social behavior. Although the concept of an asexually reproducing community of women is (still currently) in the domain of science fiction, it’s reasonable to hypothesize that a society ruled by women, a matriarchal one, could or could have existed. If so, such a society would likely be qualitatively distinct from the patriarchal societies we are accustomed to today and from those found in the ethnographic record.

Across the anthropological and historical record, there is no documented “Herland.” Available evidence suggests that, across all rural, non-industrial, and Indigenous societies, women are substantially less likely to occupy formal political leadership positions, including among the most gender-egalitarian societies, such as nomadic hunter-gatherers. Among so-called egalitarian societies (that is, groups lacking institutionalized social stratification and substantial economic inequality), women are........

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