matriarch

plural matriarchs

1. A female leader of a family, a tribe or an ethnic or religious group.

   This female hyena also gets erections and is larger, more aggressive than the male hyenas and lives in matrilineal clans of up to 80 individuals governed by an alpha female matriarch.

   2022 June 12, Katie Hunt, “How zoology got female animals all wrong”, in CNN, archived from the original on 17 Aug 2022

   1. The dominant female in a family group of elephants.
   2. Northern EnglandA strong and domineering older woman; a battle axe.

      Cornelius Hazelwood – naturally I gave him a name – saw to it that Felix could tell his prime numbers from his square roots. Then Beryl Swinehodge, an imperious Yorkshire matriarch, rolled up to test him on food pyramids.

      2022 February 3, Matthew Hammett Knott, A Class of Their Own: Adventures in Tutoring the Super-Rich, Hachette UK, →ISBN

      2 more examples

      A typical Lancashire matriarch ushers the reassured townsfolk off the premises, confident that her money is safe: 'You don't deserve any business doubting t' Co-op. It's sound enough, and them that doubt it ought to be ashamed of themselves.'

      2005 September 3, Alan Burton, The British Consumer Co-operative Movement and Film, 1890s-1960s, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 174

      Although the drummer has no musical segments in the film, he remains a central visual presence, inevitably accompanied—and visually framed—by his aunt, the stereotypically loud, forceful, and domineering northern matriarch.

      2016 May 23, Barry J. Faulk, British Rock Modernism, 1967-1977: The Story of Music Hall in Rock, Routledge, →ISBN, page 67

2. A female founder of a political or religious movement, an organization or an enterprise.