http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-21661744

Well, let's see. Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, all those begums in Bangladesh, Mrs Bandaranaike and her daughter? Not really. Nancy Pelosi, Condoleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel? I think not. Evita Peron? Nice idea! Thatcher? At least she had a vision for Britain, which is more than her successors have had... but what a vision!

No, I think I'll remain with my nicely male-dominated world (with Putin, Mugabe, Asad). This is not getting me anywhere! Over to you!

Men would be kept as pets, pampered with all the best foods and used only for breeding

Men would be kept as pets, pampered with all the best foods and used only for breeding

Isn't that what happens already?

There are matriarchal societies such as the Naxi tribe in China. I would love to know how such a set up came about.

If they ruled we'd still have good and bad leaders... the point is not to switch one for the other, the point is to make sure that it is not your gender but your qualifications for a given job that determines whether you get it or not.

I would assume even those of you who grumble about feminism would get pissed off if you had a really bright and able daughter who did not get the job she applied for, and a less qualified or suitable guy got it instead.

Men would be kept as pets, pampered with all the best foods and used only for breeding

Isn't that what happens already?

No - it's wishful thinking

I'm convinced I'm the boss.

Don't say anything please.

Surely this is a Bedlam topic?

Men would be kept as pets, pampered with all the best foods and used only for breeding

Isn't that what happens already?

No - it's wishful thinking

I actually experienced the first part for some years (the second half was beyond our powers). My partner was a great cook, and liked nothing better than to concoct special dishes for me. At one stage in his career, he used to get amazing quantities of free samples of top-class food and drink.... Beluga caviar, parma ham, pate de foie gras, all sorts of exotic cheeses, vintage Champagne, Cognac Louis XIII and better, and so on. He supplied them; I ate or drank them.

That's how I kept my slim figure.

There are matriarchal societies such as the Naxi tribe in China. I would love to know how such a set up came about.

Also the Minangkabau in Sumatra. Property passes from mother to daughter, daughters stay in their mothers' houses and the husband asks permission to visit.

The men go out to work for cash - many go to sea. But the real wealth, land and buildings, always stays with the nearest female relative.

This is a supposedly Muslim country, and most are practicing muslims in most ways, but the matriarchy remains.

Many of the boys go off to the local religious schools, where they study and live for most of their growing years - many stay there for most of their lives.

Lovely country, lovely people, except for the Northernmost part of Sumatra, Aceh, which breeds a discontented, aggressive, bigoted group of men. Even here the women and girls are still polite and friendly.

Apparently common in Bronze Age Greece where the High Priestess of the Mother Goddess ruled as queen in some societies.

In some the "king" was killed in bad seasons so his blood would symbolically fertilise the crops.

As warfare became more the serious (e.g. the Trojan war?) the male military leader soon became the civil power as well.

Possibly something to with his blood not fertilising any crops....

Here's to Uncle Uglug,

That early heroic human,

The first to open an oyster,

The first to marry a woman.

And woe to him who murmurs

As the banquet waxes moister,

If only he'd opened the woman,

If only he'd married the oyster!

(Ogden Nash, I think)