The Status of Women in Traditional Tribal Societies: Patrilineal and Matrilineal Differences

When we think about traditional social structures in India, we often imagine a uniform system of patriarchy. But tribal societies tell a far more complex and nuanced story. The status of women in these communities varies dramatically depending on whether the society follows patrilineal or matrilineal descent systems. While some women inherit property and hold significant family positions, others face severe restrictions on land ownership despite contributing substantially to their community’s economic life.

Understanding the two systems of descent 🔗

In India’s diverse tribal landscape, two major kinship systems shape women’s lives in profoundly different ways. Patrilineal societies trace lineage through the male line, while matrilineal societies follow descent through women. Each tribe possesses a unique identity with distinct languages, customs, traditions, and social structures, making generalizations about “tribal women” both inaccurate and misleading.

The Gond and Santhal tribes exemplify the patrilineal system. Among these communities, family names, clan membership, and property rights pass from father to son. The Gonds are patrilineal and property distributes to the sons equally, while Santhals follow similar patterns where women traditionally have limited inheritance rights.

Contrast this with the Khasi, Garo, and Jaintia tribes of Northeast India. In the Khasi matrilineal system, the youngest daughter inherits all ancestral property and children take their mother’s surname. After marriage, husbands live in the mother-in-law’s home. This represents one of the world’s largest surviving matrilineal cultures.

The patrilineal reality: limited rights despite crucial contributions 🔗

In patrilineal tribal societies, women face a paradox. They perform essential agricultural and household labor, yet customary laws systematically exclude them from inheriting immovable property. Among the Santhal tribe, even if there is no son in the family, women cannot inherit ancestral property. The land typically passes to male cousins or nephews instead.

The Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act of 1949 recognizes only specific forms of marriage where property can indirectly reach daughters. Under the Ghar Jamai system, if a family has no sons, a daughter may marry a man who agrees to live in his wife’s home. But here’s the crucial detail: the property is transferred to the son-in-law, not to the daughter herself. The woman remains a conduit rather than an owner.

Consider Sunita Kisku’s story from Poraiyahat block in Jharkhand. After her mother’s death, her cousins organized a community meeting where they decided to give her only 0.6 acres out of 5.5 acres of family land. The rest went to her male cousins. Or think about Mala Murmu, whose family pressured her to abort a female fetus because daughters couldn’t inherit property. These aren’t isolated incidents but reflect widespread customary practices.

Legal battles and systemic challenges 🔗

The situation becomes even more complex when examining the legal framework. The Bombay High Court has upheld the rights of women from the Gond tribe to inherit their parents’ land, recognizing that customary laws must align with constitutional values of equality. However, implementation remains inconsistent across regions.

Many tribal communities now follow Hindu customs, creating additional confusion. When evidence shows that Santhal parties practice Hindu customs rather than traditional Santhal customs, courts have applied the Hindu Succession Act, which grants women equal inheritance rights. Yet this “hinduization” pathway to property rights creates its own problems, potentially eroding tribal identity and culture.

The matrilineal paradox: inheritance without control 🔗

You might assume that matrilineal societies automatically empower women. The reality proves far more complicated. While the Khasi society is matrilineal, it is not matriarchal. Women inherit property, but men often control its management and make key decisions.

Among the Garo tribe, another matrilineal community in Meghalaya, the youngest daughter inherits property. However, male members of the tribe play an equally important role in decision-making pertaining to internal affairs, administration, and governance. The mother heads the family, but the father provides sustenance and manages practical matters.

Research comparing matrilineal tribal women from Meghalaya with patrilineal tribal women from Assam reveals interesting patterns. Matrilineal tribal women show more empowerment in freedom of movement and decision-making power, but both groups score poorly on social independence measures, including education and economic empowerment.

Political representation tells another story 🔗

Despite property inheritance advantages, Khasi women remain largely absent from political decision-making. In the male-centric Dorbar Shnong, which serves as the basic political arm of the tribes, women cannot hold office. As of 2013, the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly of 60 members included only four women. This disconnect between property rights and political power challenges simplistic narratives about matrilineal empowerment.

Economic contributions overshadowed by social limitations 🔗

Across both patrilineal and matrilineal tribal societies, women contribute enormously to economic life. Tribal women perform all agricultural activities, from seed production and sowing to harvesting, processing, and selling crops in markets. They manage household responsibilities while dedicating substantial time to farming.

Studies consistently show that women make essential contributions to agricultural and rural economies, contributing one-third of the labor required for farming operations. In activities like seed selection, hulling, and inter-cultivation, their participation reaches significantly high levels.

Yet this economic contribution doesn’t translate into control over resources or decision-making power, particularly in patriarchal tribes. Women rarely inherit land, which remains the basis of existence and power in tribal communities. Tribal women generally inherit only ornaments from their mothers, while immovable property passes through male lineages.

The wage gap and invisible labor 🔗

Women’s agricultural work often goes unrecognized and undercompensated. Even when women perform the same tasks as men, they typically earn only 70 percent of men’s wages. Much of their work falls into the category of unpaid subsistence labor, making them economically vulnerable and dependent on market fluctuations they cannot control.

In tribal communities of states like Tripura, the occupational pattern has shifted over time. Women who once worked as cultivators and cottage industry workers have increasingly joined the ranks of agricultural laborers, reflecting broader economic changes that haven’t necessarily improved their status or security.

Changing tides and continuing struggles 🔗

Women themselves are beginning to challenge these long-standing customs. In Poraiyahat block, Santhal women formed self-help groups and federations to address inheritance issues. They organized sensitization workshops with village headmen, presenting cases of women fighting for their rights and seeking support for changing customary practices.

Some women have achieved success. Binita Marandi went to her father’s land, extracted resources, and asserted her rights without facing objections. Chunnu Marandi successfully established her claim in a traditional meeting. But others faced insults and threats of social ostracism when they raised these issues.

The path forward requires acknowledging multiple realities. Matrilineal societies aren’t automatically egalitarian paradises, and patrilineal societies aren’t uniformly oppressive. Women’s empowerment in tribal contexts represents an interplay of lineage structure, tradition, geography, and socioeconomic conditions. Having resources proves necessary but not sufficient for empowerment. Agency also emerges through work, knowledge, and everyday negotiations within complex social structures.

What do you think? How can tribal societies balance the preservation of cultural identity with gender equality in property rights? Is legal intervention the answer, or should change emerge from within communities themselves?

References

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2024.2360172
2. https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/antp05/chapter/kinship-familyand-marriage-among-the-indian-tribes/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrilineal_society_of_Meghalaya
4. https://www.pradan.net/sampark/santhal-women-and-their-right-to-inherit-ancestral-property/
5. https://theprint.in/opinion/india-protects-customary-tribal-laws-that-violate-equality-for-st-women-whos-hearing-none/871871/
6. https://www.prathaculturalschool.com/post/matrilineal-societies-in-india
7. https://www.teriin.org/article/indias-women-farmers-unimagined-mass
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363872648_Socio-economic_profile_of_tribal_farm_women_in_decision_making_towards_agricultural_operations_in_Madhya_Pradesh
9. https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article3314.html