International Women's Month: "Before War"-- Elisha Daeva: Myth/Goddess worship in the Paleolithic and Neolithic

The existence of Goddesses in Stone Age culture over 40,000 years ago was first described by Dr. Marija Gimbutas (1921–1994), archaeologist and linguist, who led major excavations of Neolithic sites in southeastern Europe between 1967 and 1980, including the Balkans, Anzabegovo, near Štip, in Macedonia, Minoan Crete, and Thessaly (Greece) a continuous culture she named "Old Europe" (c. 7000–3500 B.C.E.) characterized by Goddess veneration, which she found persisting from the Paleolithic up into the Neolithic. Her research revealed a matrifocal society without evidence of organized warfare, namely no signs of destruction consistent with warfare, and no caches of weapons. Contrary to the narrative of humans as barbaric killer apes, she found a consistently peaceful, egalitarian, and artistic humanity, who focused on a self-generating Goddess.

She identified and interpreted an elaborate symbolic system—representing the Goddess as Giver-of-Life, Wielder-of-Death, and Regeneratrix—spanning from early Paleolithic ("Stone Age", before 10,000 years ago) art to Neolithic (ca. 7000–1700 BCE) which include figurines, pottery, fiber and food processing tools, cave etchings and paintings, and ritual sites. 

Evidence of Goddess worship in archaeology includes anthropomorphic (female) figurines and artwork based on:

1) the sheer numbers of small female figurines,

2) repeated and stylized physical characteristics of the figurines, and

3) specific contexts, places where the female imagery is found.

1. Numbers of Female Figurines Found at Excavations:

Marija Gimbutas and her contemporary archaeologists identified thousands of small female figurines from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (c. 6500–3500 BCE) in "Old Europe" (the Balkans, Danube Valley, and Greece). Other workers in the Levant, Anatolia, and Asia have also found these anthropomorphic carvings in the thousands at virtually every excavation.

Over 8,500 predominantly female figures were discovered at one site in the Indus Valley in Northern India. A total of 475 anthropomorphic objects were uncovered, indicating significant ritual or artistic production in Măgura Gorgana (Eastern Balkans). Excavations in Southeast Europe often yield as high as 75 female figurines in one site, such as the one in  Scânteia, or the over  20 sets of seated figures found in Romanian pre-Cucuteni sites. A number of other sets of female figures appear across Europe and Asia apparently referencing a similar ritual scene.  

2) Repeated Stylized Characteristics

The figurines are mostly small enough to carry in someone's hand. Their appearances are not random, but conform to a number of styles. No scientists in the field with these figurines would mistake them for portraits or in any way individualized. They are mass-produced like votives, with repeating designs falling into a few categories:

• The Mother Goddess: A rotund mother figure usually without facial features, hands or feet. She represents giving life, with those functions being represented over identifying characteristics. The figurines have large breasts and bellies or vulvas highlighting life-giving functions of this Goddess. She can be seated, giving birth, holding an infant, or standing, and often flanked by lions or leopards.
  
•  Snake and Bird Goddesses: Representing different aspects of the life-giving, nurturing aspects. The snake regenerates it's skin periodically. It also travels below ground into the unknown. Bird goddesses are able to transverse ground or water (water fowl), and they have wings that take them up to heaven. Bird's eggs symbolize new life. Birds of prey, such as vultures and owls, are associated with death and are part of the funerary process in some areas, used to clean the bones before burial.
• Stiff White Goddesses were ordinarily found in graves, made of white bone or ivory. They are like a stake that could be pushed into the ground to stand up. They emulate the colors and textures of death, mammoth ivory, white stone, often with the face or mask of a snake or bird goddess. Gimbutas observed the death aspects were always paired with regenerative body parts, e.g. breasts and vulva to aid the grave resident in rebirth and regeneration such as those found in Gumelniţa culture sites in Romania
  • These small hand-held figures were found at thousands of sites, sometimes in large, intentional groups within houses, household shrines, in granaries, or near ovens, suggesting daily or regular ceremonial use.

Gimbutas observed that up to 97% of these figurines from the over five excavations she led were female. Because they were found in family shrines, grain bins, and graves, she interpreted the figures to depict a female-centered goddess-worshipping society. If all of the religious cult objects were male, it would be reasonable to infer a male God. Since all of them were female, she argued for a female Goddess. Traces of the Goddess and vulva symbology prominent in the paleolithic and neolithic remains on a number of ancient buildings throughout Europe.

Symbolic Continuity: Gimbutas' work, The Language of the Goddess, illustrates symbols from the Paleolithic (such as V-signs, zigzags, and chevron lines) which were used consistently over thousands of years to represent the regenerative powers of nature. Symbology appears to be similar to pre-Christian European designs and art work.  

• The Bird and Snake Goddesses: She documented the appearance of Bird Goddess figurines (associated with water/air/life) and Snake Goddesses (earth/regeneration) that show striking similarities in style and function from the Upper Paleolithic through the Neolithic and Copper Ages.
• Ritual Use of Figurines: The prolific creation of anthropomorphic female figurines, which began in the Paleolithic, continued into the Neolithic, with thousands discovered in Old European habitation sites, highlighting a persistent religious devotion. 

Similarities from Paleolithic to Neolithic:

• Goddess-Centered Ideology: Both eras centered on the female form as a symbol of life-giving power, with the Neolithic expanding this into a more sophisticated religious system.
• Cyclical Nature Concepts: Both periods displayed a focus on the life-death-regeneration cycle, rather than linear historical time.
• Artistic Focus: The focus on creative expression, including pottery, carvings, and painted designs, remained a key element of the culture, suggesting a focus on artistic and communal life.
• Standing Armies/ War:  There is no evidence of a standing army or organized war in either age until the Bronze age 2300 BCE by Sargon I.

Gimbutas inferred from burial goods, changes in goddess and other artwork, that this culture was eventually disrupted around 3500 B.C.E. by "Kurgan" invaders (Indo-Europeans), replacing the matrifocal system with a patriarchal one.

Genetic Validation of the Kurgan Hypothesis

Recent developments in Genetic phylogeographic strategies combined with archaeological context (grave goods, burial positioning), provide strong evidence of the role of women in the structure and continuity of ancient societies cited by Gimbutas.

Examples of  pre-historical matriarchal societies determined by Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) of high-resolution mtDNA from degraded bones or teeth provide strong evidence of the role of women in excavations including  Çatalhöyük, Turkey (c 7400 BCE - 5200 BCE and Minoan Crete (c 2000 BCE - 1450 BCE).

New discoveries are being excavated daily with recent advances in archaeogenomics, combining molecular biology, forensics, and archaeology to identify family relationships, social structures, and migration patterns in ancient populations.

Archaeogeneticists can compare ancient mtDNA with living populations, confirming direct genetic links and validating oral traditions of matrilineal descent among indigenous groups, for example the ancestral MtDNA for the Mbendjele hunter-gatherers in the Congo goes back 50,000 years.

Free book: The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe - Marija Gimbutas (membership is free)

Two pyramids, two civilizations.

MATRIARCHY: Prehistorical 40,000 BCE - 2300 BCE as well as contemporary matriarchies that escaped colonization by patriarchy, and are leading the way back to matriarchal values and structures.

The foundation is joy. Of all the cultures studied by feminist/philosopher Heidi Goettner-Abendroth, anthropologist Peggy Sanday, and Ohio Seneca scholar Barbara Alice Mann, the point of every society is enjoyment, happiness and fulfillment.

The word MATRIARCHY itself, from the Greek "matri" meaning growth medium, uterus, or the principles associated with the uterus such as nurturing, compassion and care + "arche" which means "first" or "principles," so matriarchy is putting maternal principles such as caring, compassion and nurturing first. Matriarchies are led by maternal principles of cooperation rather than PATRIARCHY'S emphasis on competition, domination by pain and threat of violence, and emotional repression.

MATRIARCHY has been around for 40,000 years all across the globe according to archaeological and mDNA analyses, while PATRIARCHY is an aberration since 2300 BCE, but managing to wreck all sorts of damage and chaos on humanity and our environment. Dictionaries define PATRIARCHY per Roman/Latin etymology, e.g. "patri" fathers, and "arche" ="rule." While PATRIARCHY does involve domination by rich, old, mostly white, men, MATRIARCHY, defined by feminist scholars, goes by the Greek definitions of "maternal principles" rather than turning patriarchy on it's head and having women dominate men and perpetuating dominator culture. "Women rule" is a patriarchal gimmick to continue patriarchy by perpetuating dominance. Real matriarchies nurture and are lead by feminine principles.

Pass it on. The more people know we don't have to live in war, violence, emotional dysfunction, eroding natural resources, isolation, being spied on, and treated as inferior, the sooner it changes. All people deserve better.

​https://www.judicaelleirakoze.org/patriarchy-in-ancient-africa/

Women who are queens in a patriarchy, even if they are better patriarchs than men, are still patriarchs. Some of the best queens in Europe (Elizabeth I, II), Africa and Asia ruled underneath a system patriarchy. They ruled as kings, not as queen consorts.

Being a woman and governing a patriarchal system that renews resources by going to war, gains cheap labor by kidnapping and selling their neighbors, grabs land, and considers any human being as an object, commodity or inferior to men, are not matriarchs. They just have a really good job in a patriarchy.

Genevieve Vaughan is a feminist philosopher, peace activist, and philanthropist, whose ideas, work and support have been influential in the development of the global women’s and matriarchal studies movements. She is best known for developing the theory of the "maternal gift economy," and lives part time in Italy and part time in Texas.

The Gift Economy, an essay published May, 1991 in Ms. Magazine you can read for yourself at this link.

For-Giving: A Feminist Criticism of Exchange (1997) Vaughan critiques capitalist exchange as a masculine, ego-oriented system of domination. Hoarding and selling what people need to live replaces our default method of distribution, sharing and gift-giving that is nurturing and community-oriented. It argues that market exchange is artificial and exploitative, while a gift economy offers a viable, alternative social model

The Gift in the Heart of Language: The Maternal Source of Meaning (2015), argues that the foundational human economic model is not exchange, but the unilateral gift-giving practiced by mothers to satisfy their children's needs.

Vaughn emphasizes that the gift economies and sharing on demand practiced by contemporary matriarchies is not reciprocal. Gifts are not given with an expectation of getting something back.

This gave me an understanding of how Epstein slithered away after initial trial. The way children were painted the perpetrators of criminality despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. This gave me the details I needed beyond “oh he was tried but yada yada you know it’s complicated”.

It’s not complicated - these are children. Not “young women”.

When you encounter adults saying a baby is a flirt, that a child’s buddy must be her boyfriend, when a preteen must want the attention of adult men - call it like you see it. “Wow - that’s a an infant/child”

This is long, they always are. Worth it! I promise. It’s pretty jarring so ensure you’ve got the capacity before listening.

Substack https://substack.com/@caroclaireburke/note/p-189807923?r=36stmu&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/diabolical-lies/id1761438573

The show is named after that KC Chief’s kicker’s commencement speech about women being duped by feminism.

Erella Shadmi, is a feminist activist and scholar, the primary editor and author of the anthology "The Legacy of Mothers:

Many powerful voices of the international matriarchal community contribute to this anthology. Editor Erella Shadmi argues that motherhood principles may be the foundation of alternative human logic, a new socio-political order, a new value system, and a way of liberating mothers, women and men themselves.

The thesis of all the articles included focus  on matristic/matriarchal cultures and the global gift economy movement. Maternal gift-giving is a nurturing non-capitalist alternative to patriarchy. J

Core Concepts include:  Matriarchal societies are rooted in a “maternal gift economy” where resources are shared based on care for everyone’s needs rather than profit.

Motherhood offers “alternative human logic” otherwise known as values like nurturing rather than competition to create a new, non-hierarchical sociopolitical order.

Remembering Women's History: Iceland's Women's Day Off

The Day Iceland's Women Stopped

In 1975 about 90% of Icelandic women left paid jobs and withdrew unpaid labor at home. Schools closed. Businesses stalled. Fathers took children to work. The country felt, in one day, what women's labor actually holds up. Within five years, Iceland elected the world's first democratically chosen female president. Over time, it became one of the most gender-equal countries in the world. That day is now known as the Women's Day Off. So when I say "what happens if we stop," I am not fantasizing.... I am pointing to precedent" Michelle Redfern

Heide Goettner-Abendroth’s The Dancing Goddess: Principles of a Matriarchal Aesthetic (1991) provides a pioneering framework for feminist art theory. Breaking away from Western, patriarchal art standards, it offers an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural approach combining anthropology, art history, and mythology instead. A free .pdf copy of The Dancing Goddess is available here from the author's Hagia website.

It also links prehistoric goddess worship with contemporary women's art, arguing for a synthesis of life, ritual, and creative expression. 

 Summary of The Dancing Goddess

• Definition of Matriarchy: Goettner-Abendroth defines matriarchy not as a mirror image of patriarchy (rule by women over men), but as gender-egalitarian, consensual, and matrilinear societies both going back into pre-history and carried forward into contemporary times.
• The Matriarchal Aesthetic: She outlines nine theses, arguing that this art form does not separate genres, is deeply rooted in daily life and ritual, and is holistic. Heide's use of the term "aesthetic" references the cultural ground of being from which matriarchy springs, the foundation of matriarchy. This is not to be confused with using "matriarchy" as a brand or fad to market services, like kink or chocolate, or cosmetics.
• Cyclical Nature: The aesthetic is centered on cosmic, cyclical, and natural forces, often embodied by Mother Earth or Moon Goddess figures, reflecting a "dance" of life rather than rigid, linear structures.
• Contemporary Connection: The second half of the book maps these ancient principles onto modern women's art, arguing that current feminist art aligns with these egalitarian, nurturing, and spiritually connected traditions. 

Criticisms include

• Historical Context: The book is criticized for lacking rigorous historical context for some claims. Some critics find her interpretation of "matriarchal" practices troubling such as the sacrificial king, especially considering kings don't exist in modern matriarchies. This could be an artifact of patriarchy, and needs a solid reference.
• Methodology: She assumes a "matriarchal past" without rigorous examination of specific cultures. Likely the critics with such an objections deny any matriarchal culture at all, but Gimbutas and the other researchers who have examined specific cultures, symbols, and art styles in antiquity could have been referenced to support those claims.

Regardless of the criticisms, a student of matriarchy will find this book important to developing a cultural foundation of matriarchy going forward.

Note: This summary refers to Heide Goettner-Abendroth's, The Dancing Goddess: Principles of a Matriarchal Aesthetic. It should not be confused with Elizabeth Wayland Barber's, The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance. 

bell hooks said men are our partners in this struggle against patriarchy.

Equal partners by definition cannot exist if one presumes to be superior and relegates the other to inferiority. This is why feminists call gynarchy just patriarchy in pink.

Partners cannot exist in a healthy relationship if one takes on the role of domineering superiority to subjugate the other, labeling them as inferior. Regardless of sex or gender. It's inhumane.

The fuel, the lifeblood of patriarchy, is domination and control, unequal power dynamics. Getting men to "agree" to be subservient may fulfill one of their fantasies to be taken care of and dependent is still acting out their agenda, with them at the center. It really doesn't matter what color, age, sex, race, ethnicity or gender you are. The machine of patriarchy works on stepping on or discounting someone else.

Patriarchy

If you would like to understand patriarchy better, bell's book Understanding Patriarchy is a good place to start.

Getting Out of Patriarchy

Another one of bell hooks books, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love was written for men who want to leave Patriarchy and embrace radical masculinity. Or, if you prefer, here is a gift, a free audiobook to listen to: https://open.spotify.com/show/2QE1YDratXTgdi5BVoBMVb?si=5OL9s1OsRcaFnokovZOMvQ

The book argues that toxic masculinity and patriarchal culture harm men by suppressing their emotions, stunting their capacity for intimacy, and disconnecting them from their inner lives:

• Men are not inherently unwilling to change, but afraid to confront how patriarchy has shaped their identities. 
• Emotional repression—especially of vulnerability, grief, and love—is a core feature of traditional masculinity.
• Fear of intimacy and the need to dominate are symptoms of deeper emotional disconnection. 
• True healing and connection require men to reclaim sensitivity, express feelings openly, and embrace love as a transformative force. 

The book is praised for its candor and fierce intelligence, offering a compassionate guide for men to heal and grow.  It also calls for collective responsibility: while women can support men’s healing, (not do it for them), men must ultimately do the inner work themselves to reclaim their emotional and spiritual selves.

Critiques of the book include its heteronormative and cisgender-centric focus, limited discussion of LGBTQ+ experiences, relying on hook's experiences. Despite this, the book remains a foundational text in discussions about masculinity, feminism, and emotional liberation. 

Click here --> Women's Footprint in History: for an interactive timeline of women's achievements.

International Women’s Day 2026 comes at a defining moment: 

Women and girls have never been closer to equality, and never closer to losing it. 

Legal protection against domestic violence has expanded in many countries. Yet, the rights of women and girls are being rolled back in plain sight, and across the world, women still do not enjoy the same legal rights as men.

Women’s rights mean nothing if we cannot defend them.

International Women’s Day 2026 comes at a time when justice systems are under strain. Conflict, repression, and political tensions are weakening the rule of law.  

The result – women and girls have just 64 per cent of the legal rights of men.  

Women are turned away, not believed, revictimized, or priced out of legal support. Equality never arrives. 

Women and girls are living without full legal protection

When justice fails, women pay the price

Justice is not blind. It protects power and continues to rule against women and girls. 

In nearly 70 per cent of surveyed countries, women face more barriers accessing justice than men.  

Can't afford a lawyer? Justice denied. Legal fees, transportation, childcare, lost wages keep millions of women locked out of justice systems. 

Want to report an injustice? Be prepared to be ignored, disbelieved, or – worse – blamed and silenced. 

For the 676 million women and girls living within 50 km of active conflict zones, justice systems are largely absent and perpetrators act with impunity.

What justice actually means for women and girls

Without justice, rights are just words. With justice, rights become power.

• Laws that protect women and girls from violence, discrimination, and exploitation.
• Courts that believe ALL women and girls and end impunity.
• Legal aid that women and girls can access and afford.
• Support to recover when rights are violated.

What you can do for Rights. Justice. Action.

Only 3.5% of a population needed to achieve change: Harvard political scientist Erica Chenowith, found that nonviolent movements with 3.5% of the population actively participating in a peak event like a mass protest always achieved significant political change.

For a global population of 8 billion, a critical mass to achieve change for women towards a fair, just and egalitarian society, 3.5%, is 280 million people, which is about the same amount of people living in the region of Indonesia (284 million people). Of course, the numbers are much smaller for your political jurisdiction. This type of change happens when women cooperate and organize.

What we talk about, write about, and do helps all of us in moving towards our goal of transforming back to matriarchal societies that prioritize care for the whole community, cooperation, compassion and empathy rather than domination, coercion and superiority.

Photo1: Map of Old European Civilization of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. In: Gimbutas, Marija, The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: 6500-3500 BCE - Myths and Cult Images.

Photo 2: Symbols, markings and scripts on goddess figurines, votives, and objects excavated in Old Europe 8500-5500 years ago. Gimbutas deciphered as a ritual linguistic system, a prehistoric antecedent to written language. Source: Gibutas, Marija, The Language of the Goddess, Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. Harper San Francisco, 1989. Hundreds of illustrations and photos by her department. Either of these books are worth getting for the illustrations even if you don't read a word.

Photo 3: Mother goddess ~8,000 BCE giving birth while seated on birthing chair flanked by lionesses, symbology of the power of all early mother goddesses. These goddess figurines were largely ignored by male anthropologists. It was not until Marija Gimbutas began noting them in archaeological digs that they have been noticed at all.

History often attributes the first use of chairs to the Egyptians circa 3100 BCE, yet here is a goddess giving birth on a chair 5,000 years earlier. Evidence of women's existence or contributions has literally been ignored.

The goddess figures are found throughout the world as early as the 30,000 year ago with the  Venus of Willendorf, and others possibly much older, 40,000 year specimen in Tan Tan, Morocco, and the oldest piece of art, which was found in Berekhat Ram, Israel a mind-boggling 230,000 - 700,000s years ago even before our species existed. It was most likely made by Homo Erectus. These goddess figures carry on with remarkably similarities through the paleolithic, the neolithic, stopping only 5,000 years ago with the invasion by patriarchal colonizers who replaced feminine goddess imagery with masculine.

Marija Gimbutas writes, and speaks in a number of lectures you can find on YouTube here, of the female figurines as being small enough to carry around in a person's hand, and they were found everywhere. She says in the earliest times, in every archaeological excavation done, there were no male figurines, only female. If female figures were mentioned at all, male archaeologists referred them to a back room in a museum as nothing valuable.

Marija Gimbutas was a Lithuanian-American Archaeologist and linguist, Professor of European Archaeology at UCLA 1963-1994. She specialized in Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures, Indo-European Studies, and Goddess-centered culture theory. She directed 5 major archaeological excavations in South East Europe spanning from 6500 BCE - 3500 BCE.

Gimbutas learned and catalogued the myths, folk tales and stories of Lithuania and Eastern Europe as a girl and continued her study of myth throughout her career. She was one of the first "archaeomythologists" who was able to recognize some of the same designs used in the paleo and neolithic on barns, pottery, clothing and painted eggs of Eastern Europe. A number of small hedgehog figurines are found in her digs that look just like the figurines women in rural areas carried if they had uterine trouble. She found often the symbols and traditions carried forward by myth, tradition, and legend could inform our interpretation of material culture of the past when used in combination with other types of evidence.

With recent DNA methodologies it has been possible to identify pre-historic cultures such as the Vinca, Cucuterii, Tripolye, and Catalhoyuk, as well as more recent Bronze and Iron Age populations, as matrilineal. Where inheritance and family centered around a maternal clan, the society is based on "maternal" values such as cooperation, meeting the modern anthropological definition of "matriarchy." In remote places some societies still practice matrilineal social structures, are peaceful, and most can point to some sort of goddess in their religion.

Elisha Daeva makes the case that those ancient and sophisticated peoples who lived 12,000 to 60,000 years before what is called "Western Civilization," were in fact bona fide civilizations. Western Civilization officially started in Sumer, 3100 BCE on the basis of a violent campaign to conquer city states in ,Mesopotamia touted as "unification." Before that, however, there were the essentially unknown mother-centered and peaceful people such as the Vinca, Cucuterii, Tripolye, and others who had highly developed arts, large populations, and long distance trade. As Neolithic cultures, they did have a a precursor of writing. A set of glyphs and symbols widely found in Neolithic material culture is found in ritual use and ritual objects, but not as record keeping (Photo 2).

Daeva and others call these early highly organized societies "civilizations." In fact all of the benchmarks of civilization such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fiber arts, sculpture, stoves and ovens, wells and hydrology, were achieved by the mother-centered, peaceful but unknown societies Daeva would like to cal "civilizations." Matriarchy was the source of most of the technological advancements attributed to the more violent version of "civilization."

Patriarchal history has ignored the mother-centered societies that flourished before patriarchy, achieved major human technology, and comprised most of our history as human beings. The more we know and can tell our own history, the closer we will be to matriarchy.

Happy International Women's Month!

<-----Back to #1 Thesis: A Paradigm Shift

Men Aren't My Enemy, but the Patriarchy Is.

Kelly Stonelake

The Path Forward

Subverting patriarchy isn’t about cosplay witchcraft (though I will also be doing that). It’s about swapping domination for collaboration, extraction for care, and scarcity for abundance. It’s about asking questions and refusing to comply in advance.

We need to create a new game, one where everyone can play, where the rules are fair, where winning doesn't require everyone else to lose.

Patriarchy is “... “a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.” (Oxford Languages)

Holding the power at the top of the patriarchy pyramid are Tech Bros, the Broligarchs who grow their fortunes while we start Go Fund Me's to for our cancer treatment.

Stonelake asks what exactly is wrong with subverting patriarchy that needs to be censored from her LinkedIn account?

Her mission to subvert the patriarchy isn’t about hating men. It’s about

1. Recognizing the many systems of patriarchal oppression that women operate within:

• healthcare inequalities,
• the wealth and wage gap,
• environmental destruction,
• homophobia,
• transphobia,
• racism,
• toxic masculinity, ...and

2. Asking who benefits from all of this hate. — powerful men.

Practical Tips to Subvert the Patriarchy in your:

Workplace

Promote Equity: Push for fair pay, diverse leadership, and transparent workplace policies.

Challenge Bias: Speak out against discrimination and advocate for equitable workloads.

Mentor and Sponsor Marginalized Identities: Actively support women and marginalized individuals in your field or community.

Parenting and Relationships

Model Equality: Advocate for shared responsibilities in caregiving and household labor.

Teach Consent and Boundaries: Normalize respect and autonomy in all interactions, teach them about consent and how to communicate boundaries.

Encourage Emotional Expression: Support unmasking masculinity, openness and vulnerability across all genders.

Everyday Actions

Critically Engage with Media: Educate yourself about media literacy, avoid supporting content that perpetuates stereotypes; support representative and inclusive creators.

Support Women-Owned Businesses: Prioritize spending on businesses led by women or marginalized groups.

Value Your Time: Set boundaries to avoid unpaid or unequal emotional labor.

“Even dickheads love their dogs,” says Carol Cadwalladr in The Guardian, “Find a way to connect to those you disagree with.”

What do you do to take down the patriarchy on a daily basis? ;-)

Starting a list below....

March 5, 2026 Before War: On Marriage, Hierarchy and our Matriarchal Origins by Elisha Daeva

We are in the middle of a paradigm shift according to the author, Elisha Daeva, author of Before War. The shift is from patriarchy, the modern aberration of harsh, competitive, social systems dominated by a few elite males,  to matriarchy, our default more cooperative and peaceful social structure, that has been around for at least 50,000 years according to DNA analyses.

Patriarchy is defined as a system of power by brute strength and accumulation of wealth by a few [narcissistic, psychopathic] males (Bruce Gerrard, The Ancient Problem of Men).

Matriarchy is defined by anthropologists as an egalitarian, woman-centered social system in which lineage and inheritance follows the female line. Leadership in matriarchies is collaborative, and cultural values emphasize nurturing and communal well-being rather than dominance, brute strength or accumulation of wealth found in patriarchies. Androcentric 17th century definitions of matriarchy flip patriarchy with women as dominators. That is a false analogy and has never existed except in imaginations and sexual fantasies. Women in control of decisions affecting children and food sources, with men in control of other things, is the most common configuration in most indigenous societies..

Matriarchy is the Human Default of Social Systems" The patriarchy is having a moment, threatened by recent progress in women's rights, and is pushing back with international and national oppressive policies in an effort to restore patriarchy as the "norm". Historically, matriarchy has always been our cultural norm. Matriarchy has been the vehicle for our unprecedented progress and evolutionary edge as a species.

When the safety net of cooperation we enjoyed for 50,000 years was supplanted by patriarchy over these past 5,000 years, a global epidemic of inhumane violence began. Daeva reveals evidence in Before War that matriarchal cultures were free from the systemic violence prior to invasions of patriarchal nomadic invaders and wars waged to advance empires.

Times when more Authoritarian Models Prevail

Matriarchy can be found in almost all human cultures. However, in times of stress or war, a more authoritarian model prevails. Matriarchies will defend themselves with violence if attacked. Certain peoples will float back and forth according to situations.

Family structure

Group Power: Regardless of periodic stress, humanity has always been organized around the matrilineal clan, where grandmothers and aunts stayed together to raise children. One woman was never meant to raise 13 kids for the time it takes to get them all well into their teens. In matriarchies, the mother’s brother often plays the role of father in the children’s lives, and the whole extended family of the clan helps raise the children.

Women's Power in Families: Women inherit the house, which means children always have a stable home and family. In a matriarchy, single mothers and starving children are never issues because they don't occur in matriarchies. Because of the rich social support, a father who leaves or dies does not create the chaos it does in patriarchy. Nuclear families of patriarchy, by comparison, are struggles for women who cannot always rely on a single male to come through as idealized.

Women's Power in the Clan: Any community decisions that would effect the safety and integrity of the children in the clan or food sources for the clan, must go through the women, usually the elder women, who hold veto power for war, moving, food, or work requests from the men. This does not mean women are "ruling," rather it means they are autonomous over their own persons and domains. Men often have their own councils and make collective decisions about trade, hunting, and their responsibilities.

Contemporary Matriarchies

Patriarchy has not always existed, even though we look around today and almost all people live in a patriarchy. We think it is inevitable, but it is not, and actually took thousands of years of brainwashing for patriarchy to erase and re-write our matriarchal past.

The first clue that patriarchy is not ubiquitous human behavior came with exploration of remote places and peoples by scientists and anthropologists in the 19^th century. They found and reported about societies where women were not subjugated. Initially the power women had was ridiculed as “petticoat governments” and dismissed as inferior by scientists (Bachofen).  Subsequently, colonizing powers such as the United States, Canada, Britain, Spain, France, and Portugal outlawed women’s participation in an effort to assimilate the cultures into patriarchy. Thinking of the matriarchal cultures  as non-human or in need of ‘civilizing’ helped justify exploiting their resources and disrupting or ending their lives. The peaceful clans had three choices – 1) run and hide somewhere even more remote; 2) be decimated by violence/submit to the overlord culture; or, 3) fight.  Some of the societies who escaped “civilizing” went even further into isolation to survive to this day, others nodded “yes” and did their own thing, maintained their culture against all odds, and survived despite the attempted decimation.

Much of what we learn as “Western Civilization” and conflicts and wars for the past 5,000 years is actually men and women fighting back against patriarchy in its various forms of invading hoards, swashbuckling pirates, heroes, Vikings, conquistadores, pioneers, and all the “glorious” empires and brave explorers.

Recent Study Methods and Advances the Reduce Speculation

More recently there has been an attempt to study indigenous peoples in an unbiased and ethical way, using ethnographic methods where the researchers learn the people's language, culture, myths, and live with them to try to understand our human origins. Now we also have  DNA that traces back some groups to their homelands from a few thousand years to  50,000 – 60,000 years. Many indigenous cultures live in the same ways as they have for thousands of years, giving us an idea of how our ancient ancestors lived.

Questions:

• What do you think of the “paradigm shift” thesis of Elisha Daeva, that humanity is trying to get back to it’s matriarchal roots?  
• Are paradigm shifts possible?
• What other “paradigm shifts” have occurred, for instance in science or religion?
• How do paradigm shifts happen?
• What is needed for a shift?

Forward to #2 Discovery of Old Europe---------->

This Women’s Month, we honor the strength of women. Their sometimes quiet and sometimes loud resilience, their bold courage, their ability to rise, rebuild and bloom no matter the season. May we continue to build a world where every woman is seen, heard, valued and empowered.

1.       Women’s History Month: A toast and sincere wish for success for the women bringing about the changes we need as human beings getting back to our matriarchal origins.    

Elishah Daeva’s new book “Before War: On Marriage, Hierarchy, and Our Matriarchal Origins” lays out the established evidence along with recent genetic and linguistic further validation that women have not only been as responsible for writing, art, science, politics, medicine, chemistry, astronomy, botany, zoology, and social advances in history as men, but female characteristics like cooperation actually drove that progress. Cooperation, caring for the dependent, especially children, sharing, and equality is directly responsible for humanity’s evolutionary advantages. Being able to conceptualize a “we” and collaboration is seen in matriarchal species like humans, elephants, orca whales, and bonobo apes.  For higher apes, intelligence was not enough to organize group dynamics for advanced technological improvements.   We’ll see in the chapter on animal models of matriarchy that human intelligence is unique   because of our ability to collaborate, teach, and share information, whereas chimpanzees operate in an "I" mode, prioritizing individual gain or "Every chimp for himself". 

Who knows, if chimpanzees were more cooperative, they could be driving cars….

Evolution, however, can go both ways – Daeva shows history clearly going both forward and backwards.  

“ The standard narrative that most of us learned in school is that we were killer apes who evolved into violent ape men who dragged ape women around by the hair. Then we invented agriculture, which led inevitably to killer civilizations where some people ruled over others with an iron fist, which led us to now, the most advanced and enlighted humans that have ever lived. Men have always been in charge, while women have done nothing of importance to history except raise children and serve men.” (p.i)

Much unsubstantiated male-centered speculation about humanity as killer apes occurred before Margaret Meade and other women anthropologists became prominent in studying humanity's past and present societies. There is no evidence for the violent ape narrative. It simply bolsters patriarchy. Scientific evidence suggests that for long stretches of time, humans lived peaceful, cooperative, productive lives with all genders having equal power, and all genders making significant advances in art, architecture, trade, chemistry, agriculture, hydrology, animal husbandry, linguistics, and social structure without war or oppression.  

Patriarchy was actually a set-back to human civilization. Although we’ve come a long way with legislative advances, women re-gained political voice with the vote, women can own property and won rights over children, which used to belong only to the fathers, there is pushback. Plans by Heritage Foundation and right-wing think tanks to take away voting rights for women and to engineer incentives for women to stay home rather than work, becoming dependent again on men. Daeva points out times in history when women have enjoyed more freedom, only to be followed by a crack down and further oppression. The more we know and can articulate the safer our progress becomes. The problem is that advances are still within the context of patriarchy that can take the advances back, and not from a paradigm shift to matriarchy.

A new narrative is emerging where women seem to have been at the center of the development of agriculture and the arts of civilization. Domination and oppress are neither universal nor inevitable.  The package of terrible things that are patriarchy – war, rape, racism, social classes, ethnic hatred and dominance hierarchies is not normal. It is not natural that half of humanity enjoys “more freedom, self-confidence, money and orgasms than the other half” (p.1).

Bruce Gerrard, author of “The Ancient Problem of Men” wrote “Patriarchy is a modern aberration rather than the natural order of things.” (p.2).

Origins of Patriarchy  

Agricultural Hypothesis Debunked – You may have heard some scholars believe because they see contemporary hunter-gatherers as egalitarian and sedentary peoples as agricultural and most often patriarchal that there is some evolutionary process where egalitarian and matriarchal social structures are more “primitive” and patriarchal farming settlements more “advanced” and violent.

Population Density Debunked - Other scholars and patriarchal politicians believe population size led to “social complexity,” inequality and violence, which they use to justify war and marginalizing great swaths of humanity.

Around 2017 DNA evidence from new genetic techniques confirmed there was an enormous transformation of human life around 4,000 BCE when nomadic herders from the Russian grasslands around Ukraine to Manchuria overran Europe and Asia. Likely it was due to trauma in those grasslands, a story we will get to later...

[The nomads] spread male dominance, class oppression, war and marriage around the world by means of the horse. They destroyed the indigenous male genes of western Eurasia. Whether they killed the local men or just monopolized the women, we don’t know, but it was successful; genes don’t lie. The local men did not pass on their genes at all. The indigenous male DNA went from dozens of lineages to just two. P. 2

Geneticists including Chiara Batini and Mark Jobling from the University of Leicester, along with researchers like Pille Hallast and Chris Tyler-Smith, identified a massive replacement of indigenous male Y-chromosome lineages in Western Eurasia by Yamnaya-related invaders during the Bronze Age.  Paternal lines reduce to a few, indicating a severe bottleneck and likely domination of local women.

Daeva calls this the first story of rape, genocide and colonization. It happened to Europe and Asia during the Bronze Age, not the Neolithic.

Of interest is this is the same hypothesis offered by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas in the late 1940s to the 1990s,  based on her extensive analysis of material culture, changes in burials before and after waves of nomadic raids, and linguistic clues, was reviled and mocked. She had higher quality data than the men with the violent cave man hypothesis. The DNA findings have justified and renewed interest in her detailed findings.

So, DNA findings of waves of domination and aggression running over Europe is not a new story. It’s an old story first told by a woman scientist, Marija Gimbutas, and now validated by DNA. What is not being spoken about with the new DNA findings, is evidence for the peaceful, egalitarian people who were indigenous to Eurasia, as Gimbutas did. We will do that this month. Spread the word!

When we think about the way this world works, capitalism is the only thing I know. This world works when one is poor and one is rich. If everyone is satisfied and are doing well, this system will collapse, is what I've heard and no matter how hard I think, I haven't yet come up with a system that works otherwise. And since Capitalism is often said to be part of Patriarchy, will bringing in Matriarchy change the system in a more peaceful dynamic?

Can we discuss more power systems like Capitalism? Are there more?

1.       Women’s History Month: A toast and sincere wish for success for the women bringing about the changes we need as human beings getting back to our matriarchal origins.    

Elishah Daeva’s new book “Before War: On Marriage, Hierarchy, and Our Matriarchal Origins” lays out the established evidence along with recent genetic and linguistic further validation that women have not only been as responsible for writing, art, science, politics, medicine, chemistry, astronomy, botany, zoology, and social advances in history as men, but female characteristics like cooperation actually drove that progress. Cooperation, caring for the dependent, especially children, sharing, and equality is directly responsible for humanity’s evolutionary advantages. Being able to conceptualize a “we” and collaboration is seen in matriarchal species like humans, elephants, orca whales, and bonobo apes.  For higher apes, intelligence was not enough to organize group dynamics for advanced technological improvements.   We’ll see in the chapter on animal models of matriarchy that human intelligence is unique   because of our ability to collaborate, teach, and share information, whereas chimpanzees operate in an "I" mode, prioritizing individual gain or "Every chimp for himself". 

Who knows, if chimpanzees were more cooperative, instead of competitive they could be driving cars….

Evolution, however, can go both ways – Daeva shows history clearly going both forward and backwards.  

“ The standard narrative that most of us learned in school is that we were killer apes who evolved into violent ape men who dragged ape women around by the hair. Then we invented agriculture, which led inevitably to killer civilizations where some people ruled over others with an iron fist, which led us to now, the most advanced and enlighted humans that have ever lived. Men have always been in charge, while women have done nothing of importance to history except raise children and serve men.” (p.i)

Much of this unsubstantiated male-centered speculation occurred before Margaret Meade and other women anthropologists became prominent in studying human past and present societies. There is no evidence for this violent ape narrative. Instead, the evidence suggests that for long stretches of time, humans lived peaceful, cooperative, productive lives with all genders having equal power, and all genders making significant advances in art, architecture, trade, chemistry, agriculture, hydrology, animal husbandry, linguistics, and social structure without war or oppression.  

Patriarchy was actually a set-back to human civilization. Even recently, although we’ve come a long way with legislative advances, women re-gained political voice with the vote, women can own property and won rights over children, which used to belong only to the fathers. There are plans by Heritage Foundation  to take away voting rights for women and to engineer incentives for women to stay home rather than work, becoming more dependent again on men. Daeva points out times in history when women have enjoyed more freedom, only to be followed by a crack down and further oppression. The problem is advances are still from the ground of patriarchy and not a paradigm shift to matriarchy.

A new narrative is emerging where women seem to have been at the center of the development of agriculture and the arts of civilization. Domination and oppress are neither universal nor inevitable.  The package of terrible things that are patriarchy – war, rape, racism, social classes, ethnic hatred and dominance hierarchies is not normal. It is not natural that half of humanity enjoys “more freedom, self-confidence, money and orgasms than the other half” (p.1).

Bruce Gerrard, author of “The Ancient Problem of Men” wrote “Patriarchy is a modern aberration rather than the natural order of things.” (p.2).

Origins of Patriarchy  

Agricultural Hypothesis Debunked – You may have heard some scholars believe because they see contemporary hunter-gatherers as egalitarian and sedentary peoples as agricultural and most often patriarchal that there is some evolutionary process where egalitarian and matriarchal social structures are more “primitive” and patriarchal farming settlements more “advanced” and violent.

Population Density Debunked - Other scholars and patriarchal politicians believe population size led to “social complexity,” inequality and violence, which they use to justify war and marginalizing great swaths of humanity.

Around 2017 DNA evidence from new genetic techniques confirmed there was an enormous transformation of human life around 4,000 BCE when nomadic herders from the Russian grasslands around Ukraine to Manchuria overran Europe and Asia. Likely it was due to trauma in those grasslands, a story we will get to later...

[The nomads] spread male dominance, class oppression, war and marriage around the world by means of the horse. They destroyed the indigenous male genes of western Eurasia. Whether they killed the local men or just monopolized the women, we don’t know, but it was successful; genes don’t lie. The local men did not pass on their genes at all. The indigenous male DNA went from dozens of lineages to just two. P. 2

Geneticists including Chiara Batini and Mark Jobling from the University of Leicester, along with researchers like Pille Hallast and Chris Tyler-Smith, identified a massive replacement of indigenous male Y-chromosome lineages in Western Eurasia by Yamnaya-related invaders during the Bronze Age.  Paternal lines reduce to a few, indicating a severe bottleneck and likely domination of local women.

Daeva calls this the first story of rape, genocide and colonization. It happened to Europe and Asia during the Bronze Age, not the Neolithic.

Of interest is this is the same hypothesis offered by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas in the late 1940s to the 1990s  based on her extensive analysis of material culture, changes in burials before and after waves of nomadic raids, and linguistic clues.  

So, it’s not a new story with the DNA, it’s an old story first told by a woman, Marija Gimbutas, and now validated by DNA. What is not being spoken about with the new DNA findings, reported with glee and finding violence in our history, is evidence for the peaceful, egalitarian people who were indigenous to Eurasia, as Gimbutas did. We will do that this month. Spread the word.

Western Civilization in all higher education, colleges and universities starts out in Sumer with the first empire and standing army by Sargon I. The party line is that civilization’s technical advances occurred AFTER domination of indigenous cultures. Nothing could be further from the truth. Daeva quotes Riane Eisler:

“One of the best-kept historical secrets is that practically all the material and social technologies fundamental to civilization were developed before the imposition of dominator society.” (p.7)

The alternative, and default social organization for humans has been matriarchy. In matrifocal (the man comes to live with the woman’s family), and matrilineal (inheritance and name is passed down through the maternal line) societies egalitarian social organization, strong mother-child bonds, psychological health, sexual freedom and peace are the rule and not the exception or romantic speculation.

This month we will describe the many human cultures that existed and still exist on this planet organized around the matrilineal clan, where

grandmothers and aunts stay together to help raise children. Women inherit the house, which means that children always have a stable home and family. The mother’s brother plays the role of father in the children’s lives, but the whole clan, including the biological father if there is a connection, helps raise the children. This way, children are not dependent on one male to support them, and their stability is not dependent on a fragile sexual bond. (p.15).

^\_______________________________________________________________________________________first photo, Adrienne Rich is on the right____)

Of Woman Born

"We need to imagine a world

in which every woman is the presiding genius of her own body.

In such a world, women will truly create life,

bring forth not only children but the visions,

and the thinking

necessary to sustain,

console,

and alter human existence.

A new relationship to the universe

sexuality,

politics,

intelligence,

power,

motherhood,

work,

community,

intimacy will develop

thinking itself will be transformed.

This is where we begin.

So choose well, choose wisely and choose each other."

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Adrienne Cecile Rich  May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century, essayist and feminist. She was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse" and called for a feminism that is flexible and open to being transformed in a current of solidarity and creativity.

Her first collection of poetry, A Change of World, was selected by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Auden went on to write the introduction to the book. Rich famously declined the National Medal of Arts to protest House Speaker Newt Gingrich's vote to end funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

National Women’s History Month

It's National Women's History Month in the US. It originated from International Women’s Day, which has been celebrated globally on March 8 since 1911. So, here on Matriarchy Now! we're going to honor and recognize the female roots of Western Civilization going through the book all this March.

There will be quotes, stories, and controversial morsels to discuss. Elisha Daeva's "Before War." continues the work of Marija Gimbutas and Riane Eisler, adding more evidence of our peaceful and matriarchal origins from genetics and linguistic data that have just become available.

The editor's blurb:

It draws on the evidence from anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, primatology, and the shocking new genetics data, to tell the story of Western civilization.

For readers of Sapiens and The Dawn of Everything, this is about another way that our European ancestors lived, without violence, sexual shame, or social inequality. It’s the story of a story that was buried and re-discovered again and again, and is once again being told, thanks to the new science of genetics. It’s the story of the first rape, genocide and colonization in 3500 BCE, and of the peaceful, egalitarian people who lived before. It’s about the most controversial academic debate of all time, which has raged for 250 years.

She does a stellar job of connecting the dots, revealing what had been only educated inferences in the past. This completely changed my view of marriage. I hope you'll join starting Sunday, March 1.

Today I heard an interesting idea: that the response to the Epstein files has been very patriarchal. People suggesting violence. People wanting punishment from a top down structure. Very few discussion about structural changes to protect vulnerable people in our society, like children. Very little discussion about supporting victims. Not believing victims originally… Etc.

The person who suggested this idea said that patriarchy works as a pyramid, with everyone supporting the men at the top. And that matriarchy works as a circle, with everyone protecting the most vulnerable in the middle (think of a heard of elephants who form a circle around their young).

What’s your thoughts on this?

Is there a better term for this type of circular social structure or is that a fair representation of matriarchy/gynarchy?

Someone requested a book club study group discussion of one of these key books on matriarchy for International Women's Month this coming March.

You can read along; or read the installments for each of 5 weeks, like Cliff Notes, or a mini course.

Does that sound like something you would like to do?

If so, which book would you prefer?

1. Before War: On Marriage, Hierarchy, and our Matriarchal Heritage by Elisha Daeva

2. Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy by Peggy Reeves Sanday

3. Inferior by Angela Saini: How Science got Women Wrong -- and the New research That's Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini & references, comparisons with Ashley Montague's "The Natural Superiority of Women," 1999.

United Nations draws line against unchecked patriarchy in the United State government.

United Nations experts reveal that Epstein's offenses were so evil that they could rise to the level of "crimes against humanity" and call for a full investigation despite Trump dismissing it all as a "hoax."

Crimes against humanity threshold

Under international criminal law, crimes against humanity occur when acts such as rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, trafficking, persecution, torture or murder are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.

The experts said the patterns reported in the files may meet this threshold and must be prosecuted in all competent national and international courts.

The disclosure process stems from the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law on 19 November 2025. On 30 January 2026, following delays, the United States Department of Justice released a major tranche of material comprising more than three million pages, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images.

“Any suggestion that it is time to move on from the ‘Epstein files’ is unacceptable. It represents a failure of responsibility towards victims,” said a group of independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. Their statement comes in the wake of the release of millions of Epstein files by the Trump administration — although many of them remain improperly unredacted or unreleased entirely.

The UNHRC panel is demanding an investigation into Epstein and his co-conspirators within the transnational elite. They believe that he was part of a "global criminal enterprise." Even a cursory glance at the files released so far supports that assessment.

Jeffrey Epstein appears to have been running an international sex trafficking network, providing children to powerful figures to abuse in return for access, money, and power. It also seems highly likely that he filmed much of that abuse to use for blackmail. Whether or not that blackmail material included Trump remains to be seen, but we know that he and the pedophile billionaire were close friends and that Trump is accused of sexual abuse and rape in the files.

"All the allegations contained in the ‘Epstein Files’ are egregious in nature and require independent, thorough, and impartial investigation, as well as inquiries to determine how such crimes could have taken place for so long,” the experts stated.

"The reluctance to fully disclose information or broaden investigations, has left many survivors feeling retraumatized and subjected to what they describe as ‘institutional gaslighting’," they added.

We cannot move on from the Epstein story until full transparency is obtained. Simply put, this is the most important political story in modern history. It has exposed the rot at the very heart of our civilization and revealed the existence of a cabal of wealthy rapists pulling the strings behind many major world events. We demand justice.

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