Laura Spinney offers a compelling glimpse into the possibility that gender-egalitarian societies once flourished in the past – cultures where women held substantial autonomy and influence (The big idea: Was prehistory a feminist paradise?, 5 October). However, her article remains constrained by a predominantly Eurocentric lens.
Most of Spinney’s examples are drawn from Europe and Asia, where patriarchal systems displaced “biarchal” models (those based on shared gender governance) in the distant past. Yet in some regions biarchal cultures endured far longer. In places such as Canada, the US, parts of Africa, southern India and Polynesia, these biarchal traditions are almost within living memory.
For evidence look at Mi’kmaw Women – Strength of a Nation, a web-based learning initiative by Mount Allison University in Canada. It educates Indigenous women about how colonialism dismantled previous female autonomy in Mi’kmaw society, including the forced removal of children to mission schools where Christian patriarchal values were imposed.
Similarly, a 2022 Guardian article about Kenyan Kikuyu women reclaiming their own heritage says: “Under Kikuyu cultural practice, women had control over agricultural production, the community’s main source of livelihood. Mukuru says she was surprised to discover that the culture was also matrilineal and sexually liberal.” Again it was European colonial pressure that suppressed these female roles.
Also often overlooked is the intersection of biarchy and LGBTQ+ history. In societies where women were valued equally to men, individuals with both masculine and feminine traits were often revered. Many biarchal cultures embraced gender-variant people, assigning them spiritual and cultural roles.
Simon Dawson
Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire
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