"Contrary to the declarations of some anthropologists, matriarchies do exist. Peggy Reeves Sanday first went to West Sumatra in 1981, intrigued by reports that the matrilineal Minangkabau - one of the largest ethnic groups in Indonesia - label their society a matriarchy. Numbering some four million in West Sumatra, the Minangkabau are known in Indonesia for their literary flair, devotion to Islam, and egalitarian, democratic relationships between men and women.".

"In Women at the Center Sanday uses her repeated visits to West Sumatra in the closing decades of the twentieth century as the basis for a new definition of matriarchy. From the vantage point of daily life in villages, especially one where she developed close personal ties, Sanday's narrative centers on how the Minangkabau conceive of their world and think humans should behave, along with the practices and rituals they claim uphold their matriarchate."--BOOK JACKET.