> In that situation most of the formal power was held by men. The members of parliament, the generals, the treasurer, the postmaster, the judges -- all were men

> In that situation most of the formal power was held by men. The members of parliament, the generals, the treasurer, the postmaster, the judges -- all were men. The time when the queens power were supreme the parliament did not hold power over the monarch, nor did the generals, treasurer, postmasters or judges. Supreme power is supreme. The UK parliament was created on the idea to limit the power of the monarch, same with the treasurer which reported only to the parliament, but those rules took ages to be put in place. > Having power doesn't mean they don't have to take into account the informal power around them. There is a very strong issue of definition here. A supreme judge have to take into account the facts of a case but they still hold exclusive power to make a judgement. That is the question here: do the chiefs hold the exclusive power to decide the case or are they not allowed to do so when it cross over to the domain that women decide on. > When a society is labeled patriarchal it is not, in practice, a statement about all the power in that society. That is why the term patriarchal and matriarchy is about which group holds primary power. Not all, but most power. > that women would be the presidents and generals and judges and men would basically chill at home and smoke the fish and do the knitting and not (overtly) control public policy. No one has ever found a society like this. This is just a different way of defining formal power to be more meaningful than informal. We could role reversal a society where women held power in all trading, war and negotiation with foreign tribes and men held power over all other domains. Both men and women would do cooking, fishing and knitting, but men would control domestic policy while women controlled diplomatic policy. Is that a matriarchy? In my view no. The primary power in society is not about who control the generals and who is allowed to go and fight wars with neighboring tribes. There is more to tribal society than war.