Some authors argue that Bijago culture tends to be matriarchal, with women managing the household, the economy, law, as well as initiating courtship (women choose their husbands and terminate the matrimony). Other sources, however, dispute this and suggest that closer examination has revealed a fundamentally patriarchal society where women, in spite of their substantial participation in material production and important roles in social, political, and religious matter, remain essentially unequal to men. A more balanced view proposes that "traditional Bijagos society before the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade could be described as complementary, with males and females performing specific spiritual, political, and economic tasks divided along age and gender lines", but during the slave trade era female social status diminished. They conclude that "gender roles have once again begun to “normalize” on the islands: for example, women’s spiritual leadership and