Then why does the bossy, meddling mother-in-law narrative go back hundreds if not thousands of years in all cultures? It isn’t a recent development.
One must differentiate.
In most cultures throughout history, it was the husband's mother who was the "mother-in-law from Hell," constantly finding fault with her daughter-in-law.
Only in modern Western culture do we see the wife's mother brow-beating, berating, and generally making life miserable for the husband.
Regards,
Most cultures were clearly patriarchal, so they didnt have to worry about bossy mothers of their wives. The WIVES might have had to endure bossy mothers of their husbands, however. I think the narratives were of bossy mothers of the husbands, not the wives.
Females were GIVEN away and done. Only recently has had that changed. Giving of the bride in weddings are meaningless symbolism now.