#mosuo

It’s a place where women rule, marriage doesn’t exist and everything follows the maternal bloodline. But is it as good for women as it sounds – and how long can it last?

This progressive, feminist world – or anachronistic matriarchy, as skewed as any patriarchal society, depending on your viewpoint – exists in a lush valley in Yunnan, south-west China, in the far eastern foothills of the Himalayas. An ancient tribal community of Tibetan Buddhists called the Mosuo, they live in a surprisingly modern way: women are treated as equal, if not superior, to men; both have as many, or as few, sexual partners as they like, free from judgment; and extended families bring up the children and care for the elderly. But is it as utopian as it seems? And how much longer can it survive?

Many studies have found that women aren't as willing as men to take risks. And so they may shy away from riskier investments or career choices, missing out on the rewards that can come from taking big chances.

The perennial question: Why? Is it nature or nurture?

Some researchers have pointed to biological or evolutionary explanations — stemming from the theory that women who care for kids can't afford to take as many risks. According to this school of thought, over time females evolved to be more risk-averse. Others have linked risk-taking to testosterone.

But Elaine Liu, an economist at the University of Houston, never fully bought into that theory. She was always a risk-taker, as far as she can remember. At 16, she decided to leave her small town in Taiwan, and, in search of bigger and better activities, move in with relatives in California.

Liu credits her upbringing for her own venturous spirit. Her mom always told her, "girls could do anything boys could."

So, in her latest study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Liu investigates the influence of parents and peers by comparing two groups of children — one raised in a female-led culture and the other in a male-dominated one.

Liu and co-author Sharon Xuejing Zuo at Fudan University in Shanghai found that young girls from the Mosuo community in China, one of the few societies in the world run by women, were bigger risk-takers than boys from the same community. But after the Mosuo girls spent years in schools with boys and girls who came from patriarchal communities, the trend reversed: Older Mosuo girls took fewer chances.

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