espread prevalence of descent through
the mother, the survival of the family clan and, in some cases, the
property rights were dependent on women and not on men. I start from
the belief that the mother was at one period the dominant partner in
the sexual relationships. This does not, however, at all necessarily
involve "rule by women." We must be very clear here. What I claim is
this. The system by which the family was built up and grouped around
the mother conferred special rights on women. The form of marriage
favourable to this influence was that by which the husband entered the
wife's family and clan, and lived there as a "consort-guest." The wife
and mother was director in the home, the owner of the meagre property,
the distributor of food, and the controller of the children.[2] Hence
arises what is known as mother-right.

[2] McGee: "The Beginning of Marriage," _American
Anthropologist_, Vol. IV, p. 378.

I am prompted to this inquiry by two reasons: in the first place, the
origin of the maternal-system and the subsequent association of the
mother and the father appear to me to afford evidence of the working
of a natural law of the two sexes, which, both for social and other
reasons, is of great interest in the present stage of women's history.
The establishing of the mother's position is of great importance. If
we can prove that women have exercised unquestioned and direct
authority in the past history of human societies, we shall be in a
position to answer those who to-day wish to set limits to women's
activities. Then, in the second place, I am compelled to doubt certain
conclusions, both of those who accept mother-right, and also of the
greater number who now deny its occurrence. If I am right, and the
importance of the maternal family has been unduly neglected and the
true explanation of its origin overlooked, I feel that, whatever
errors I may fall into, I am justified in undertaking this task. My
mistakes will be corrected by others with more knowledge than I can
claim; and if my theory of mother-right has any merit, it will be
established in more competent hands. The vast majority of
investigators on these questions are men. I am driven to believe that
sometimes they are mistaken in their interpretation of habits and
customs which arose among primitive societies in which the influence
of women was marked. In dealing with the family and its origin it has
been usual to consider the male side and to