women and peace

Happy womens day ! 

I ve always wondered if humans society would be more peaceful if it was female dominated. And ... you know what? actually it would .

Bonobo and chimpanzee.
Bonobo and chimpanzees are very closely related great ape species , they live on opposite banks of the river congo.

It so happens that Bonobos have a female dominated - matriarchal society where as the chimps have very strictly male dominated. Even tho they otherwise have a very similar social structure. 

It turns out, Bonobos are far more peaceful creatures than Chimpanzees. Chimp males will kill any other male not belonging to their group. All meetings between non related ( not from the group that is) turn out violent, even fatal. Not so with Bonobos. Male Chimps are pretty abusive to their female counterparts, Bonobos pretty nice. Bonobos, in-fact are called graceful apes. They seem to show more compassion and altruistic behavior. [But this is still disputed by a few scientists] BTW There are a few other things you may find interesting about bonobos which u can go google for yourself :P 

 we are obviously follow the chimpanzee behavior rather than the bonobo line [we diverted from the common ancestor of both these lines like 8 milion years ago, and they separated from each other 1 million years ago. so if at all, chimps and us have followed the same line of evolution - genetically/socially independently. ]

Bonobos live among the rain forrest while chimps live in more arid and difficult terrain. Bonobos live in a more favorable environment than the chimpanzees. Some scientists cite this as the reason for the difference in behavior. May be cause things got difficult for survival of homo sapiens, and the society had to get cruel - male dominated to survive ( like chimpanzees)?Humans do have the capacity for strong female bonding, required for a matriarchal society,Tolerance of males to infants not their own..caring of the young by both genders... On second thought, May be we are more like Bonobos than chimps after all han? Now that times have changed and the environment is more favourable - will we see a turn in the scheme of things ??? :-) 
In 2012? :) Now that is another discussion !!!  

Interesting addendum from http://www.primates.com/bonobos/bonobosexsoc.html
Social Organization among Various Primates

BONOBO

Bonobo communities are peace-loving and generally egalitarian. The strongest social bonds are those among females, although females also bond with males. The status of a male depends on the position of his mother, to whom he remains closely bonded for her entire life.

CHIMPANZEE

In chimpanzee groups the strongest bonds are established between the males in order to hunt and to protect their shared territory. The females live in overlapping home ranges within this territory but are not strongly bonded to other females or to any one male.

GIBBON

Gibbons establish monogamous, egalitarian relations, and one couple will maintain a territory to the exclusion of other pairs.

HUMAN

Human society is the most diverse among the primates. Males unite for cooperative ventures, whereas females also bond with those of their own sex. Monogamy, polygamy and polyandry are all in evidence.

GORILLA

The social organization of gorillas provides a clear example of polygamy. Usually a single male maintains a range for his family unit, which contains several females. The strongest bonds are those between the male and his females.

ORANGUTAN

Orangutans live solitary lives with little bonding in evidence. Male orangutans are intolerant of one another. In his prime, a single male establishes a large territory, within which live several females. Each female has her own, separate home range.