Matriarchal Manifesta
by Dr Heide Goettner-Abendroth
What is the STATUS of WOMEN today?
To cite a brief summary of the 1980 UN Report:
“WOMEN make up half of the world population, work nearly two-thirds of all hours worked, receive one tenth of worldwide income, and own less than one hundredth of worldwide property.” (United Nations Report 1980).
What a SCANDAL that is! Yet no one seems to get worked up about it.
But if we women believe a lot has changed in the meantime, then we are mistaken.
In 2010, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council cited the following figures:
“WOMEN work 66% of all hours worked worldwide and produce 50% of the food. But they get 10% of the world income, own 1% of the property and represent 60% of the world’s poorest.” (Hamidon Ali, UN Press Conference on June 25, 2010).
This was the sitaution in 2000, in 2010, in 2018. The U.N.report is published annually, but nothing changes. The SCANDAL continues, and we are outraged!
We therefore demand fair distribution of the world income as expressed by the national wealth of individual states.
We demand:
50% of all national wealth belongs to women and their projects.
Equally shared economy in all its aspects!
What could MATRIARCHAL POLITICS be today?
Economically
- The creation of new subsistence economies that are locally and regionally anchored.
- Subsistence communities are self-sufficient and establish sharing and gift giving circles; vouchers are the only form of money and free of interest (in opposition to capitalist monetary economy.)
- Property cannot be purchased and owned privately; the land is commonly possessed by all (commons). It belongs to the city or the rural district; there exists the right to build a clan-house on the land and the right of usufruct for agriculture.
- Living space is non-purchasable: everyone has a house to live in. There are no rentals.
Socially
- New intentional communities can be formed based on affinity.
- They consist of symbolic clans and see themselves as brothers and sisters through affinity.
- New symbolic clans are matriarchal when they are initiated and led by women and mothers related by affinity: women’s communities, women’s villages.
- This type of clans replaces the nuclear family as the fundamental unit of society.
- The clans/communities develop projects, or co-operatives, which are giving them togetherness and continuity.
Politically
- The matriarchal consensus principle, of great importance for egalitarian communities and an egalitarian society, is put into practice.
- In this way, true “grass-roots democracy” is created; decisions are made by all persons at local and regional levels (delegates are only information-bearers).
Culturally
- The whole world is seen as “sacred” again. Mother Nature is met with love and care.
- Every kind of living beings is revered as “divine” and celebrated by rituals, performed communally. Everybody is invited to take part. Celebrations bring all people together based on mutual respect for the “true wealth”: the diversity in the world.
- There are no religious institutions. In this way, matriarchal spirituality pervades everyday life and becomes a normal part of it.
How to put MATRIARCHAL POLITICS into effect today?
Fundamental Demand:
50% of all national wealth belongs to women and their projects. At present, working women pay the same taxes as men. Millions of mothers work free-of-charge. But 90% of the monetary flow pours into men’s projects: military, international corporations, monumental ego-architecture, huge sport stadiums and events, etc. That must stop!
RESULTS of this changed situation:
Economically
- Women set up local subsistence economies for themselves and their communities: gardens, farms, their own stores, their own distributions, sharing and gifting of goods.
- Every extended family, or symbolic clan, set up by women receives its own house(s). Women’s villages are established.
Socially
- Women establish new communities, related by blood or affinity, with their affinity sisters and brothers. Their houses are multigenerational. Motherhood is collective. There is no more isolation of mothers in nuclear families, no social isolation of persons of any age group.
- Women start their own schools, colleges, cultural and technical academies and universities, in accordance with their own knowledge and values, sharing it with everybody. Women have their own medical facilities and their own healthcare.
Politically
- Women are the organizers and keepers of the consensus principle in their extended families, or symbolic clans, and also organize it on the local and regional levels. Practical bottom-up politics, no more abstract top-down party politics.
- Women have their own councils and self-administration, at communal, local and regional levels. Men have theirs as well, and communication between women’ councils and men’s councils takes place on an egalitarian basis. Women and men refrain from male-dominated institutions, and don’t support them any longer.
Culturally
- Women have their own publishing houses, book stores, and distribution networks. They have their own technical facilities. They have their own art galleries, theaters, museums. Women create their own spiritual sites where they celebrate the Earth and life together with their communities.
- Women and all people of their communities stop further destruction of the environment, the soil, the water bodies, the Earth and its plants and animals.
WOMEN are – owning half of the economy which belongs to them – no longer just “those tolerated” in male institutions. They are no longer “beggars” for their own projects.
They run their own projects independently of male dominance, male values and male world views. A truly matriarchal society arises, one that is egalitarian and friendly to life!
What TO DO now?
Spread this information.
Create an activist group.
Write this U.N. report and the demand for the “equally shared economy” on a poster and show it in the streets.
Create a movement via internet.
Create local, regional, national strikes of women, who will meet at the towns central places demanding the “equally shared economy”.
Contact women politicians of high position and convince them to collaborate.
And many other ideas of your own.
Further Reading:
Matriarchal Studies: Past Debates and Present New Foundation
Matriarchal Spirituality, Past and Present (Lecture at Glastonbury Goddess Conference 2008)
Matriarchal Politics: The Vision of an Egalitarian Society
What is a “matriarchy“? | What does “Matriarchal Politics“ mean?
Dr Heide Goettner-Abendroth is a mother and a grandmother. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy of science at the University of Munich where she lectured for ten years (1973-1983).
She has published on philosophy of science, and extensively on matriarchal society and culture, and through her lifelong research on matriarchal societies has become the founder of Modern Matriarchal Studies. Her main works are:
Matriarchal Societies. Studies on Indigenous Cultures across the Globe,
(New York 2013, Peter Lang). She defines scientifically this new field of
knowledge and provides a world tour of examples of contemporary
matriarchal cultures.Matriarchal Societies of the Past and the Rise of Patriarchy in West Asia and Europe (New York 2022, Peter Lang). She uses her deep knowledge about matriarchal societies to review archaeological records and re-write the history of cultures.
She has been visiting professor at the University of Montreal in Canada, and the University of Innsbruck in Austria. She lectured extensively at home and abroad.
In 1986, she founded the “International ACADEMY HAGIA for Modern Matriarchal Studies” in Germany, and since then has been its director.
In 2003, 2005 and 2011 she guided three World Congresses on Matriarchal Studies in Europe and the U.S.A. She was twice a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2005 by a Swiss initiative, in 2008 by a finish initiative.
HAGIA. International Academy für Modern Matriarchal Studies, www.hagia.de
Direction: Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth and Cécile Keller, www.goettner-abendroth.de