The Complex Roles of Native American Women Before European Contact

before the u.s was you know the u.s this land belonged to numerous native american nations whose diversity

then and now rivals that of eurasia each of the hundreds of nations have and had their own language religion customs

governance structure judicial system and history the role of women in native culture is as complex and different as

the nations from which they come like most cultures so much depended on where the nation was located and the

particular needs of that geography and environment dictated the various roles that people within that society play

northwestern nations lived on rivers and relied on fishing while those on the plains followed the buffalo and planted

porn for their livelihood while gender usually plays a role in determining responsibilities gender did not limit

women in many native cultures because there are many different cultural contexts it's difficult but not

impossible to generalize about the role that women in native communities play so we're going to try

welcome to remedial history where we ask what happened to the women and put them in

in this series we tell women's history from era to era from the perspectives of differing and diverse women women are

half of history welcome to her story [Music] this episode was sponsored by the new

hampshire women's foundation and the patrons of the remedial herstory project investigating the lives of women native

to north america is deeply challenging because the experiences of indigenous people varied from region to region

community to community and even within communities native people are diverse their societies rich complex and

enduring gender was however significant in the lives of early native people wherever they were family and community

systems brought native people together in systems of mutual reliance and respect as in many places and cultures

men were generally responsible for hunting warfare and interacting with outsiders therefore they had more

visible roles this is why the names of male natives tend to pop out more in our histories native women were active in

community governance and activities many nations perhaps one-fourth if not a majority were organized matrilineally

where new husbands would come to live with his wife's family an inheritance was passed down from the mother in

matrilineal societies women owned the family's home and goods they did all the agricultural production and reared the

children they also held important political and economic power nations of the iroquois confederacy or the

hodenoshoni were all led matrilineally with women at the helm clan leaders selected a male chief to represent the

nation and they removed them though and the women were dissatisfied in other nations women would even become warriors

some were able to earn the title of chief because of their own achievement on the battlefield or due to their

husband's death in the midwest women often helped hunt harvest buffalo women were responsible for utilizing the

entirety of the animal in these communities the relationship between gender and service to the nation was

much less significant in others however gender determined much about the contributions to the community a person

could make for example the cherokee of the southeast assigned male and female infants a bow or sifter at birth to

connect them to their future lives as hunters fishers or an agricultural production the hodeshoni classified the

forest as male and the village as female but for indigenous people gender wasn't always strictly binary the dna and the

navajo recognized six different genders that's awesome the ojibwa did have male and female roles but individuals could

align with the gender of their choice despite the birth rituals the cherokee also allowed for gender variants and

even built it into their language a variety of words in the cherokee language describe people who are quote

two spirits or whose gender expression or identity fits outside the binary male female there are words that translate to

he or she thinks like a man or woman fascinating in most native communities women had significant spiritual roles

they often served as spiritual leaders healers and political leadership in many native american creation stories one of

the female characters created life nature and earth through her body in some sort of birth the pueblo of the

southwest have a fascinating origin story where the corn mother gave birth to human life and corn sprouted up

through the ground all babies are given an ear of corn at birth to recognize this sacred connection to the mother

this story illustrates the centrality of the feminine to pueblo life the belief in women's inherent spirituality lended

to their role as healers many nations believed that the women had more healing power women had extensive knowledge of

plants and medicine for healing and were vital to the nation's success duh most native american women were

master craft people producing blankets baskets jewelry and pottery because women work and always have marriage and

sexual activity in native communities was extremely varied and sex was not necessarily only practiced within

marriage and often began at a young age some nations were polygamous meaning people had multiple partners in their

lifetime or even at the same time a practice still in place today in some mormon and muslim families some nations

had formal marriage ceremonies where others considered a couple married when they just lived together women's power

in relationship and within the nation showed most notably in divorce both men and women could decide to end a marriage

or relationship but in many nations women owned all the household belongings so

men leaving marriages could only take the items that they had when they began the relationship unlike the patriarchal

societies of eurasia where fathers owned their children and mothers had little rights to them children in native

societies often belonged exclusively to their mother when a widow remarried her children from the prior marriage would

be adopted by the new husband native cultures had different practices around menstruation in some women inhabited

separate quarters during that time for the ojibwa women were considered most powerful during that time of the month

generally most cultures celebrated female puberty rather than shamed it the hoopa people for instance celebrated a

three to ten day coming of age ceremony following the first menstruation where was that when i was a girl some

nations would not allow a couple to have sex until their child reached a certain age although this practice varied

considerably from a child's ability to crawl to closer to 10 years old as practiced by the cheyenne as a result

native american families had about three children while eurasian families in the same period would sometimes have up to

14 children native women did what later europeans would consider men's work but native americans believed in equality

fairness and autonomy novel concepts most scholars agreed that native american women had more authority

and independence than their european counterparts the importance of property ownership depended on where the nation

lived and what natural resources the nation used to sustain itself in the pacific northwest trees and acorns were

incredibly important to their diet so ownership of trees was passed down from mother to daughter in the east some

native nations placed emphasis on actual land ownership and surprise surprise women often owned the land the algonquin

and other north central nations used markers like eurasians to show where one family's property began and another

ended other nations like the lenape thought of ownership more like leasing where someone had the right to use the

land but that it belonged to the nation as a whole to the hodenoshone women owned the fields they worked the houses

and everything in them the happy women owned the pueblos and the land which was inherited matrilineally one native

source said you ought to hear and listen to what we women shall speak for we are the owners of this land and it is ours

native american women engaged in agricultural activity for generations prior to european contact on the great

plains where buffalo were essential and nations migrated to follow them their inheritance rules put emphasis on the

objects that people moved with them when these nations like the lakota and the pawnee got horses brought from europe

they became the predominant source of wealth everyone even children had the right to own horses domesticating

animals other than horses was rare in native cultures because they tended to believe that animals had equal spiritual

rights as humans because it disrupted gender distributions of labor we have few reliable written sources about

native women's lives before contact so unfortunately we have to turn to white men's interpretation of natives for some

of our sources in 1644 the reverend john miguel pence's minister at the dutch church in new netherlands which is

modern-day new york said that native american women were obliged to prepare the land to mow to plant and do

everything the men do nothing except hunting fishing and going to war against their enemies chill jon others described

native women as slaves to their men probably because they didn't really understand or frankly care to understand

the way natives shared the burden of labor after the arrival of more european explorers 90 to 95 of the indigenous

population was wiped out by diseases brought by the europeans territorial disputes and the resulting

conflicts also had devastating impacts on the already weakened native populations scholars disagree on how

european expansion and migration impacted native women some argue after contact women's authority declined

because of a term called cultural assimilation where cultures shift and change to become similar to the dominant

culture white men preferred to deal with native men in trade and political negotiations

despite women sitting at the helm in most native communities white judeo-christian leaders demanded of

their native converts that they follow patriarchal norms and european gender norms rude and while that might be true

in some places other scholars insist that women's leadership in indigenous cultures remain central to their society

matrilineal inheritance of clan identity remained important to many communities as evidenced by women's central role in

those communities long after european contact and today so for example

in 1787 a cherokee woman appealed to benjamin franklin on behalf of her community she said

ought to mind what a woman says and look upon her as a mother and i have taken

the privilege to speak to you as my own children and i am in hopes that you have a

beloved woman amongst you who will help to put her children right if they do wrong as i shall do the same

she played the mother card and i'm here for it later in the 1800s when the cherokee nation were increasingly forced

out of their homes groups of cherokee women petitioned their council to stand their ground they forcibly stated

beloved children god gave us to inhabit and raise provisions

do not part with any more lands these quotes give merit to the suggestion that women's roles remained and remain

central to the leadership of at least some native communities by the end of this era so much remained in question

how would these rich cultures continue what would happen to the native people that survived european arrival and what

role would women play in that survival what efforts would be made to resist european expansion and how many would

assimilate to european norms and culture thanks for watching if you want to dive deeper head over to our website

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