Matriarchal societies in African history that you need to know

Most African societies were based on a matriarchal social system. Even those that were not in the exact sense of matriarchy, they respected women and valued them so high. Yeah, I know it might be a new concept to you but in Africa, women were gods. They were the givers of life. African men respected, adored and supported their women. Whilst foreign religious books don't fully support women leadership, in African societies, women ruled with the society's support. Research on Africa disputes the popular notion that women did not have a place in our societies or women were reserved for the kitchen.

African woman as mother Earth 

I quote Dr. John Hendrik Clarke:

In Africa, the woman’s place was not only with her family; she often ruled nations with unquestionable authority. Many African women were great militarists and on occasion led their armies in battle. Africans had a unique civilization where men felt very secure letting women rule. Sometimes men helped the women to advance more in their life duties as their aspirations would allow them.

 

A glimpse of women leadership in African societies

There are many cultures in that women had control of the social system. They were trusted with the moral authority to make decisions for the people; unlike in some of today’s black societies that do not trust women's power.

Dr. Clarke continues: 

It was in Africa that the woman rode at the head of her army. It was in Africa that a woman headed a state for the first time. It was in Africa that a woman became a GOD for the first time.

 

When we say Black women were gods we mean Aset the Ancient Egyptian goddess, the godmother of the Yombe people of Central Africa, or Oshun and Yemeya the goddesses of Yoruba people of West Africa.

African women were rulers like Amanirenas from the Nubian lineage of queens, Amina of Zaire, Asantewaa of Ghana, and warrior women like the Dahomey Amazons. The Dahomeys were a group of all-female militias that guarded the kings in present-day Benin. In relation to the Amazons’ story, Marvel Studios released Black Panthers in 2018, a fictional movie portraying the Dahomey Amazon. It featured many actors including T'challa and Lupita Nyongo.

In upper Kenya women took part in the Mau Mau fight for independence, also Mekatilili, an African woman from the coast rallied men and women to oppose the recruitment of African men to World War I. Queen Nzinga of West Africa initiated a war against foreigners that saw West Africa successfully fight against colonization in later years. She led her army even at old age. 

Queen Nzinga Mbande of Angola

Harriet Tubman led a rescue caravan in America that saw thousands of men and women gain freedom from slavery. Queen Nanny of Jamaica led a large population of our race in that country to fight for their freedom. The list is endless because African history has more iconic Black women than any race has of its own. Women of whom royalty crowns perfectly fit on their afro-haired heads. To add on, Black queens were internationally known and respected. One good example is Queen Makeda of Ethiopia. She is Biblically known and historically recognized by Kebra Nagast as the Queen of Sheba.

Traditional painting of Queen Makeda (courtesy)

Matrilineal culture and its aftermath 

Another system that gave women power was matrilineal which means that rulers came from the female line. For a man to be a ruler, emperor, king, or even chief, he had to come from a black woman’s womb. Professor Rudolph Windsor in his book "From Babylon to Timbuktu" records that in the historic Ghanaian kingdom, the people traced their ancestral roots through their maternal brother. That is instead of them connecting with the Uncles from the father's side, they would identify with those from the mother's side. It was also the responsibility of a man in the Ghana Empire to pass down his legacy to his sister's sons. In some cases if you are a King, then the rightful heir of the throne was your sister's elder son. 

Among the Kenyan Mijikenda tribe, especially with the Digo sub-tribe, the system is no different. The Digos are known to be matriarchal and anytime you connect well with an elder from that tribe, he will call you "jomba" meaning the child of my sister. In most cases (those born before the hospital birth became more significant) have been born via traditional means in our maternal homes and that is where our umbilical cords were buried. Traditionally this signifies that that is your home and you are connected to the ancestors of that place. Also, naturally, when tragedy strikes, one is always quick to run to their maternal home, there you are always and easily welcomed. Just like a mother's love which will always be the same no matter what life turns you into, so is the love from your maternal home. 

When the Europeans and Asians first came to Africa they found an established system that respected and valued its women more than anything else. Chancellor Williams furthers this argument in his book, "The Destruction of Black Civilization", by explaining how the good system was taken advantage of by foreigners. In the case of ancient Egypt, foreigners intentionally married into the royal families by asking for the royal daughter(s)' hand in marriage, to marry their foreign white sons which saw the foreigners become kings and queens at one point.

Consequently, this might have given all reasons for the black man to be angered and therefore do everything to protect his race, his place in the society, and the heart of his woman, the black woman. We can conclude that it was when he (Blackman) sought all possible means to remove the matrilineal system that was posing a big threat to the race. In ancient Egypt, those kinds of marriages led to whitewashing of the black race and ultimately resulted in almost all black faces being whipped out. It is not that the matriarchy system was bad but that the good system was taken advantage of by ill-motivated people. Of course, this led to Africans adopting Western cultures that were patriarchy-based. Adoption of foreign religious principles is also one of them. Evidently, religions have kept women off the front seats in their (religions) major practices.

As it has been seen, the change in culture implicated African women greatly. Overtime, there have been efforts to empower more women into all aspects of life. The call has been for them to take up their Queenships. The new Queendoms and Empires include the business world which has recorded a positive result. Studies show that there are more female entrepreneurs in Africa than in any other place in the world. As it happened before where Africa taught the world how to respect women, it is happening again. In those times other races didn’t consider their women as equals, our race regarded them as supreme creatures. We need to do that again. It has been said that a nation cannot rise above its women. For Africa to be strong, we need strong women.

Currently, there are many female national, regional, continental, and international leaders in Africa. It ranges from Public Servants, Administrators, and Members of Parliament, to Heads of state. Ellen Johnson leads the list; she was the former Liberian president as well as chairperson of ECOWAS. Ethiopia also has a female head of state. Former President of Malawi, Joyce Banda is also not forgotten. In recent years, Tanzania also got its first female president.

Tanzanian President, Mama Samia Suluhu. 

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