Since the beginning of human civilization men have traditionally been tasked with the jobs of hunters and the women were the gatherers. This instinctively led to men being placed in hierarchal roles due to their strength and dominance over women and children, who were pictured as weaker physically and mentally. Even though this is true for most of the world there are places where there is not patrilineal culture, but a matrilineal culture where people trace descent through the female line. In selected traditional human groups factors such as modes of production, social organization and political organization plays huge roles in gender relationships.

A true matrilineal culture such as the Mosuo of China attracts many tourist year round due to their unique lifestyle. In the video, a young girl explains how money and possessions are not shared by people who are married, but the two just sleep together at night and go about their work during the day. Also, the women are in control of who they marry and who is allowed to sleep with them. There is a tradition called the “walking marriage”. This happens when a guy walks into a woman’s bedroom and she decides if he is allowed to stay or not and he always has to leave before the family gets up in the morning. All of this is affected by the modes of production because they mostly farm agriculture for a living and that is something women there thrive on doing. Therefore their social and political organizations are run by the women and the men are believed to be thought of as lesser, which is in contrast to most other places around the world.

In the United States, it was a traditional patrilineal culture for most of history where people trace descent back through the male line. This was mainly due to the strength thought of in the men who were the ones exploring America off west, hunting new species of animals and fighting tribes found along the way, opposed to the women who gathered and watched the children back home. Although, globalization and development have embarked new opportunities for women in this day and age producing more female college graduates than men and women in political power than ever before. Women were exhausted of staying at home and not having the freedoms men did, so now women are taking charge in their futures and developing a strong platform within a college and the workforce. These actions are examples of how the United States has developed over the years because women used to not be able to go to college and out for work to support the family because that was a mans job. The United States has transformed into a bilateral culture where men and women are experiencing more and more equal opportunities and have equal freedoms.

Help Received: Mosuo of China video
https://youtu.be/bbzG0n3shTM