Historically, when Cossack men fought in permanent wars far from home, the women took over the role of family leaders. Women were also called upon to physically defend their villages and towns from enemy attacks. In some cases, they raided and disarmed neighboring villages composed of other ethnic groups. Leo Tolstoy described such Cossack female chauvinism in his novel, "The Cossacks". Relations between the sexes within the "stanitsas" were relatively egalitarian. The American historian Thomas Barrett wrote "The history of Cossack women complicates general notions of patriarchy within Russian society".