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Who Deserves a Job When Work Is Scarce?

“When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women.”

The percentage of people who agree with this statement varies dramatically—from 3.6% in Iceland to 99.6% in Egypt.

But why do gender equality views differ so drastically across cultures? Is it religion, economic stability, or access to education?

Although all of these can play a role, it turns out the most powerful factor may be something politicians can’t (and won’t) touch: the plow.

But before we get into that, I need to explain why menstruation kindled within me a reverence for matriarchal societies.

How Menstruation Taught Me to Revere Matriarchies

Whether or not you believe menstrual cycles are connected to the moon's phases, they’re undeniably magical.

I didn’t talk about my mom’s menstrual cycle until last year. I discovered that throughout her adult life, doctors said she likely wouldn’t have a baby. Her cycle was always irregular and unpredictable—until she returned to her birthplace, Argentina.

It was the first time in her adult life that she knew when her period would come. She could finally make reliable plans weeks in advance, but several months later, the unexpected happened—she was pregnant with me.

I'm here because of menstruation’s mystique and a woman’s bond to the soil. That’s the same reason we’re all here.

Why Don’t We Celebrate the Blood That Birthed Us?

If you read “Butterflies,” you know it took a Bribri woman to make my mother proud of her period. Before that, she was taught to believe it was something dirty—something to be ashamed of.

"In various forms, cacao is used in all ceremonies, and only the woman can prepare and use the sacred drink. You know, when a girl gets her first menstruation, it is honoured and celebrated by the community. She is washed with cacao and learns to take pride in her moon cycles. From a giggling child to a woman capable of giving life. That's how ‘primitive’ peoples celebrate a young woman.”
— From “Butterflies”

In the West, we don’t do anything to celebrate one of the most critical days in a woman’s life and, therefore, all our lives.

Instead, we celebrate “me.”

Individualism vs. Community: The Feminism of the Bribri

Modern-day-western-and-mostly-white-woman feminism is inseparable from individualism. It’s all about me.

Yes, our world needed a #MeToo movement to give men a reality check and women the power to speak up in numbers. But an “us vs. them” dichotomy doesn’t help build stronger communities.

Many Indigenous women from Latin America don’t identify with these individualist models of feminism. Instead, they focus on what one can do for the greater community and, as the scope naturally broadens, what one can do for the world.

That’s the type of feminism prevalent in the Bribri matriarchy.

The Bribri organize themselves into clans, which are essentially extended families. Their matrilineal system means the mother's clan determines a child's clan. This setup emphasizes women's crucial right to inherit the land and make the sacred cacao drink for rituals.

Yet, it’s not about women exercising their power over men. As the Bribri woman explains to my mother in “Butterflies,” a community is like a bird. The woman is one wing, and the man is the other. To make the community, both wings have to be equal.

What Can We Learn from the Bribri About Gender Balance?

Men's roles are shaped by their clan, like being an awa (shaman) or oko (mortician). Only specific clans can become awapa, and since clan lineage comes from the mother's side, an awa can't teach his own sons but can instruct his female relatives' sons.

The education begins around age 8 and lasts 10–15 years. Once the man is ready, the ceremony and rites of passage to become an awa must be carried out in front of a woman.

After the ceremony, the awa can serve as a spiritual leader, healer, and repository of ancient wisdom. During healing sessions, the shaman sings to the spirit trinity—representing the plant, the disease, and the person—establishing a connection and convincing the illness to leave with the help of the plant spirit.

This connection between the people and the land persists today, as those in Bribri reserves continue to utilize natural resources for construction, food, medicine, and dyes.

Do We Need a Matriarchy to Heal Our Disconnected World?

But do we need to be like the Bribri—or have a matriarchy—to reconnect our societies to nature?

It seems obvious that those who give life should be in charge of life. Yet, patriarchies have been most prevalent since Indo-European pastoralists fucked matriarchies up by worshiping male gods and venerating warfare.

Some anthropologists suggest that traditional gender roles—specifically women’s involvement in pregnancy and childcare—led to their marginalization. Men, with more freedom, could actively participate in cultural practices, technologies, and institutions.

Another perspective posits that women’s reproductive power may have been perceived as a threat, leading to the development of patriarchy as a system to control and subordinate them.

I’m sure both theories have a grain of truth, but neither gets to the point—our political systems are outgrowths of how we interact with the land.

How the Plow Gave Rise to Patriarchy (Yes, Literally)

Boserup argued that traditional agricultural practices influenced the historical gender division of labour and the evolution of gender norms.

To test this hypothesis, Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, and Nathan Nunn combined pre-industrial ethnographic data (documenting whether societies traditionally engaged in plough agriculture) with modern-day metrics assessing individuals’ views on gender roles. They also looked at female participation in activities beyond the household.

Controlling for factors like country, ethnic group, migration history, presence of domesticated animals, religion, and social hierarchy, they found a significant positive correlation between historical plough use and present-day unequal gender roles.

In other words, Boserup was right.

Why the Plow Favoured Men and Changed Everything

But why does the plough put power in the man’s hands?

In contrast to the hoe [insert cheap joke] or digging stick, the plough demands considerable upper body strength, grip strength, and intermittent bursts of power. These specific demands conferred a farming advantage to men, which, in turn, contributed to a power dynamic that went far beyond the field—into politics and religion.

When the Gods Changed Gender: From Fertility to Firepower

Braudel also argued that religious beliefs historically followed the adoption of plough agriculture.

He describes how, around the fourth millennium BCE, the plough spread in Mesopotamia—and along with it, a movement of women out of agriculture, a shift from matriarchy to patriarchy, and a change in spiritual beliefs.

“There was a shift away from the reign of the all-powerful mother goddesses and immemorial fertility cults presided over by priestesses... toward male gods and priests.”

Want to Dismantle the Patriarchy? Start with the Soil

If we want to fuck the patriarchy, we need to change the way we interact with the land.

We need to undo the Judeo-Christian belief that men are meant to rule over all living things. We need to learn from Indigenous peoples who understood that all life is connected, and that balance—not domination—is the key to survival.

Can Diversity Save Us from Patriarchy?

It’s no coincidence that many ancient Indigenous traditions had:

• No single harvesting stage exclusive to one gender
• Recognition of gender fluidity
• More egalitarian societal structures

Diversity is how ecosystems and human societies survive. By creating an equal playing field, we allow for greater diversity—not just biologically, but ideologically, spiritually, and economically.

Patriarchal structures have caused a homogeneous hegemony, not just by marginalizing women, but by belittling Indigenous and traditional knowledge.

Are Feminist Movements Falling into the Same Trap?

Patriarchal values emphasize power, dominance, and success.

If feminist movements adopt these same values—where does that leave us?

Instead, we need to focus on community. One way to begin is through celebration.

And a ceremony celebrating a lil blood with a whole lot of cacao seems like a great place to start.

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