This Mother's Day, we take you to some incredible women-led societies across the world

We all know what patriarchy is but how well do you know of matriarchy? Well, for people’s knowledge, matriarchy is a system of society or government where a woman or women rule. Though it’s not a common phenomenon, there are places where matriarchal and matrilineal communities are in power. In places such as Costa Rica and Kenya, women in the society are always at the forefront and people from across the globe travel to these places to meet these powerful women and understand their culture.Here we have collated a list of some interesting female-led societies from all over the world that would fascinate you beyond words.

Now this one is the perfect example of No Man's Land given that men are completely banned in this women-led society. Can you believe this? In the village of Umoja (meaning unity) only those women live who have suffered any kind of sexual and gender-based violence in their lives. The village and the society was founded in the year 1990 and women are the leaders and lawmakers here. Their prime occupation is to show the tourists around along with educating other women about their rights.

In the Guna, also known as Kuna, society (Panama and Colombia), women are sole breadwinners. They do embroidery and indulge in various handicrafts and sell them to tourists. The women in the society also run small shops in the village and have food stalls, catering to foreigners.

Mosuo women are China's last surviving matriarchy and as per reports, about 40000 of them practice Tibetan Buddhism. The biggest thing about this society is the lineage in the family is traced through the women. Not only this, Mosuo society is also matrilineal, which means that property is given to the same female line. Another interesting thing about these women is that they don't marry and if they do have a partner, they won’t live together.

The Khasi tribe in northeast India is known for its matriarchal society. According to reports (2011), the population of this tribal society was nearly 1 million. In this society, women work outside while men are supposed to stay home and take care of the house. When it comes to children, only mothers or mothers-in-law are allowed to look after children. Men are not even allowed to attend family gatherings. Not only this, when a woman in the Khasi tribe gets married, her maiden surname is carried by her instead of her husband's!

BriBri in Costa Rica is probably one of the oldest living matriarchal societies in the world. This is the society of an indigenious people and though they represent the country’s largest indigenous group, people of the tribe have remained detached from the rest of Costa Rica. Nobody knows where they live as their houses are well-hidden in the mountainous region of Talamanca. It is believed that there are nearly 12000 to 35000 members in this tribal group. In this matriarchal society, women have an upper hand and the land is given by the mother to her children. Also, only women have the right to prepare the sacred cacao drink for their religious rituals.

This one is counted among the largest surviving matriarchal society with a population of nearly four million (as of 2017 data). The mother plays the most important role in the Minangkabau society and women rule here. The male partners have separate sleeping facilities altogether as men and women in this society can’t live together.

The Akan people of Ghana follow matriarchy and the woman in power takes all the crucial decisions including inheritance, wealth, and politics. But men too hold leadership positions in this society for a change.