section_path: Types of kinship/Matrilineal
section_name: Matrilineal
paragraph_text: Matrilineal
  
  Matrilineality is a form of kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is traced through his or her mother's lineage.
  
  It may also correlate with a societal system in which each person is identified with their matriline—their mother's lineage —and which can involve the inheritance of property and titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers – in other words, a "mother line".
  
  In a matrilineal descent system, an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as her or his mother. This matrilineal descent pattern is in contrast to the more common patrilineal descent pattern.