In promiscuous matriarchies, females would already have more power than female chimps do, so maybe the kids wouldn’t need a lot of protection at first. If a male were to start misbehaving, all hell would rain down on him—female coalitions don’t allow aggression toward offspring. Maybe a few well-positioned males start participating in violent retribution against such transgressors. Maybe they start acting a bit more like thugs, even beating up their female allies’ enemies. Sometimes the enemies’ kids get caught in the cross fire.
