When Kinship Is Traced Through Women, Their Health Follows

•  A study finds that there may be health benefits when family ties are linked through mothers and women head households
• Anthropologists have long been intrigued by the Mosuo, an ethnic Chinese community that lives in Yunnan province. The Mosuo share a common language and cultural practices, but they are unique in that they maintain what anthropologists call two different kinship systems: matriliny and patriliny.
• More specifically, inheritance passes from mothers to their children among the matrilineal Mosuo and from fathers to sons among patrilineal Mosuo. Globally, matriliny is less common than patriliny—and some societies now link inheritance and kinship through both parents.

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