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Many have described the Mosuo of southern China as one of the world's only matriarchal societies. But from what Ricardo Coler says in an interview with Der Spiegel, being a Mosuo woman isn't all that fun.

Coler, who lived with the Mosuo for two months, explains that "matriarchal" in this case means the women do all the work. He says,

Men live better where women are in charge: you are responsible for almost nothing, you work much less and you spend the whole day with your friends. You're with a different woman every night. And on top of that, you can always live at your mother's house. The woman serves the man and it happens in a society where she leads the way and has control of the money. In a patriarchy, we men work more - and every now and then we do the dishes. In the Mosuo's pure form of matriarchy, you aren't allowed to do that. Where a woman's dominant position is secure, those kinds of archaic gender roles don't have any meaning.

So having a job and occasionally doing the dishes is "archaic," while slacking off and hanging out with your friends is just awesome? Coler seemed to be saying that the most enlightened social order is one that resembles that of a pride of lions. We don't mean to criticize the lifestyle of the Mosuo, but does it make sense to call them "matriarchal?" Are women really in charge when they have all the responsibilities yet also "serve" men?