Throughout history, men have been given superiority and dominance over women in most religious settings. There have been few religions and cultures that do the opposite and see their women as having superiority and dominance over men. On the one hand, cultures and religions that see men as dominant are patriarchal. On the other hand, cultures and religions that see women as dominant are matriarchal. Every religion and culture has an impact on whether societies tend to follow a matriarchal or patriarchal lifestyle. Hindu and Islamic religions and cultures are two religions that tend to follow a patriarchal lifestyle, but with few exceptions. According to the US History in Context report obtained from the Otto G. Richter Library at the University of Miami, matriarchy is defined as “a political system in which women are the dominant political actors” (US History in Context). In contrast, patriarchy is “a social phenomenon in which males have the privilege of dominating females, both visibly and subliminally” (US History in Context). When both the words matriarchy and patriarchy are broken down to their root meaning, they give us their literal definition. The word "-Arch" translates to rule, while "matri-" and "patri-" translate to mother and father. When the root words are put together, they translate to father's rule in patriarchy, or mother's rule in matriarchy. For starters, Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world. Hinduism has no known founder, prophet, or primary set of beliefs. According to the Idaho State Journal, “Hinduism has many deities. The three principal ones are Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva, the destroyer” (Jenkins, “What is Hinduism?”) Hinduism is a former… half of paper… societies only do so because of their cultural and not religious views. In Islam mothers do not have the same importance as those in Hinduism. In Hinduism the mother is highly respected and seen as a prestigious person. But Hindu mothers who fail to give birth to a boy for their husband will live their lives feeling as if they have failed their husband, but Islamic women will not live with this resentment. Another difference between the two religions and cultures is that Islamic women can be as loyal as Hindu women during marriage, but after marriage Muslim woman remarries another man, while Hindu women do not remarry even if his husband died. Noting the similarities between Hindu and Islamic beliefs, as well as their cultural beliefs, we can observe that Hindu and Islamic societies consider men superior to women, making both religions and societies patriarchal..