I'm not commenting on the journal or the article specifically. My bf used to work with primates in harem groups. His facility put a young male in with a group of females who's male had passed away. They beat the shit out of him and they had to remove him. They were dumb enough to try again and got the same result and a male who was now afraid of females.

The premise is obviously not wrong across all primates because there are species with female leadership such as bonobos. I think even in male dominanted societies females could potentially gain power by banding together (they are often close relatives) against a male. I could see other males using that as an opportunity to move in. While the males are larger and more aggressive. Most primate groups have a single male with several females. They may not be as strong but they have numbers. The biggest issue is their baby. Males are the biggest danger to babies, even their own. They also have reason not to oust males because a new male often kills all the babies.

This may not be the study to provide evidence for this due to some issues but its still an interesting topic to think about.