Decades ago, I read a science fiction novel set far in the future based on the notion that society had become genuinely matriarchal. I remember its being an engrossing read because the author did such a good job painting daily life.

Men, particularly young men, were valued for their beauty, fashion sense, and skill with face makeup. Women, who wielded almost all political and economic power, were often careless about how they dressed and presented, and they fought over the most attractive young men.

Men were expected to run households staying within budgets their wives allocated, to care for the children, and to do the housework, which they were obviously naturally suited to being physically stronger.

Women were valued for their intelligence, and were presumed by most to be generally smarter than men, who were best at physical labor.

Men who were not attractive enough to find wives were pitied, and often ended up leading very difficult lives. They had a hard time finding paying work and the jobs they could find were much lower paying than what women find. If they were lucky, they might find themselves taken into a relative’s household and cared for like a pitied pet.

I wish I could remember the novel or the author, but I think I was a teenager when I read it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a woman wrote it, because it was obviously a commentary on the patriarchy, simply with the roles reversed.

If anyone wanted to know what a true matriarchy would look like, if such a thing would ever exist, it would be something like that.