Editing Kerlile (section)

===Foundation & early years===

The Matriarchy of Kerlile was founded in 1924 by a group of women on the principles of women’s liberation and escaping the historic discrimination faced by women. The founding charter of the nation restricted the rights of men within the territory, with the stated aim of ensuring the patriarchal attitudes prevalent across the globe at the time would stop at the border. 

The ‘Founding Mothers’ were ten women who, for the first decade of Kerlile’s existence, were each in charge of a specific region. Most decision making in this decade was made on a local level, however in 1934, the ten founders met in the city of Grapevale, later to become Kerlile’s capital, to form a Council to discuss the future of the ‘women’s utopia project’. This was to become the hereditary [[Council of Kerlile]] that survives to this day. This was the beginning of centralised rule in Kerlile.

Following the foundation of the Council of Kerlile, the ten founders agreed that one of their members, [[Wilma Greenwood]], should be appointed President of Kerlile. She was to be the official head of state of Kerlile. In order to ensure, however, that the region Greenwood had managed was represented on the Council, she was immediately succeeded as Councillor by her daughter, [[Rebecca Greenwood]], who was only 14 at the time. Some historians have claimed the young Rebecca’s ascension to the Council was an early sign that the “utopia was turning into a quasi-feudal state”.

During the first Greenwood presidency, the population of Kerlile grew rapidly, as campaigns aimed at encouraging women to immigrate to Kerlile were launched, and proved successful, particularly following the economic downturn experienced by many other countries during this period. Kerlile promised work for all immigrants, and vowed to support women who were fleeing domestic violence. It is estimated that upwards of 44% of immigrants to Kerlile in the period between 1935 and 1955 were victims of domestic violence in their countries of origin.

In the early years of the Matriarchy, restrictions were already in place preventing men from owning property, holding government posts, and working in certain professions such as police officer. These were meant to be temporary. However, there were much less restrictions than in present-day Kerlile, and in early Kerlile, women and men often worked side by side. Reports of life in early Kerlile indicate that, at the time, the nation was thought of as the beginnings of a women’s paradise by most of the population regardless of gender. 

After the retirement of the first President Greenwood, the Council chose from within its membership a successor, [[Nancy Arnott]]. Those supporting the initial utopian ideals were outraged by what they saw as a blatant attempt to prevent the beginning of the democracy they were promised upon the foundation of Kerlile. In an attempt to address these concerns, President Arnott and the Council created the [[Parliament of Kerlile]], an elected body. All female Kerlian citizens over the age of 21 were eligible to vote in the first elections to the Parliament of Kerlile, which took place in 1943.