Native American women traditionally belonged to a
culture that gave them respect and where they had power, autonomy and
equality. Through the last hundred years and due to European
colonization they have lost all that they had. Presently Aboriginal
women suffer from a high rate of poverty. They also experience racism
and sexism from Western cultures and have even lost respect from their
own culture. European legislations, reserve life and residential
schools have led to a loss of language, culture, family and self-esteem.
But Native American women are the hope of the future for their
culture. Native women are making visible efforts to renew traditions
and to improve education, through self rule and by healing from within
the culture itself. They are a strong group who will not quit fighting
for their people because they are still the nurturers, counselors,
spiritual and medical healers and providers of the First Nations People.
The First Nations People that cover North America
differ in their languages and their rituals and practices. Particularly
they differ in their mode of survival, which is determined by the lands'
location and characteristics and the animals that are most bountiful
there. Some bands hunt and gather some fish and hunt while some are
agricultural. Traditionally though, they are fairly similar in their
attitudes toward individuals in their bands. Native societies in the
past were not based on a hierarchical system and there were few
important divisions between men and women. The work of the two genders
often differed but there was no value of one over the other. Native
women of the past were respected and valued for their contribution to
the survival of their families. Their knowledge of plants, their ability
to cure and preserve food and their opinion in political matters was
all valued. Native women in the present are experiencing a distinct loss
of that respect and value from within their culture and from outside of
it. They are experiencing increased abuse at the hands of their
husbands. Women are also losing respect for themselves as indicated by
their increased addiction to drugs and alcohol and by the disrepair of
their families. But there is a strong effort being made by Native Women
to improve their futures as well as to improve the futures of their
children and spouses. The following information is based on the lives of
First Nations women in general and is drawn from the characteristics
common to the Iroquois of New York, the Inuit societies in the Arctic,
the Tlingit society of the Northwest Coast, Blackfoot societies of the
Plains and the Cherokee women of the Southeast to name a few.
Priscilla K. Buffalohead in her 1983 article “Farmers,
Warriors, Traders: A Fresh Look at Ojibway Women”, states that until
recently it was assumed that traditional Native American women were no
better off than slaves (pp.236-44). Klein and Ackerman (1995) believe
this is because the first missionaries saw the hard work that the women
did and reported that the tribal women were drudges (p.6). Most often
Native women were not even mentioned historically because the first
traders and missionaries to come in contact with Native tribes did not
see them as important (Klein & Ackerman, 1995, p.3). This could have
been due to the popular opinion that European women were frail and
helpless which made the hard work performed by the Aboriginal women look
arduous (Voyageur,1993, p.85). The invisibility of women in history is
beginning to change yet even feminist scholars are guilty of seeing
tribal women as valuable only to illuminate the origins of sexism
(Buffalohead, 1983, pp.236-244). This opinion, however, is proving to be
incorrect. We are now coming to learn that many tribal societies were
based on egalitarian cultural traditions, concerned less with the
equality of the sexes and more with the dignity of individuals and their
inherent right to make their own choices and decisions (Buffalohead,
1983, pp.236-244).
In the Iroquois tribes of New York women had the
political right to nominate and recall civil chiefs, they controlled and
managed their families, they had the right to divorce and could
determine how many children they would raise (Buffalohead, 1983, pp.
236-244). The earliest historians still reported that the women were
exploited and mistreated which they used to justify policies forcing
Natives to adopt the religion and life style of Euro-American society
(Buffalohead, 1983, pp. 236-244). An elitist attitude prevailed that
Indians were savages in need of fixing and Native women were
particularly invisible as European men viewed all women as inferior
(Voyageur, 1993, p. 85). The attitude that European culture was superior
to that of the Native people led to bias in the observers so that they
failed to comprehend the full range of women's economic roles or their
political and social power within their societies (Voyageur, 1998,
p.85).
In Blackfoot society a woman owned the products of her
labor including the tipi that her family lived in (Kehoe, 1995, p.114). A
woman was judged by the quality of her work and treated with respect in
reference to her good work (Kehoe, 1995, p.115). Women were seen as
powerful due to their ability to give life (Kehoe, 1995, p.120). She was
so powerful that it was she who unwrapped and rewrapped holy bundles
because a man would not be able to handle this power directly without
her intersession (Kehoe, 1995, p. 116). A woman's superior spiritual
power is seen in her ability alone to hold the Sun Dance ceremony
(Kehoe, 1995, p.116). Women are Shaman's as often as men are and bring
blessings to the people (Kehoe, 1995, p.117). These show that
traditionally Blackfoot women had power, freedom and autonomy.
It was understood in most Native cultures that men and
women's work is of equal value and is complimentary. Men hunted and
women processed the fruit of his hunts. One did not function well
without the other. Each person worked for the betterment of the band and
power was counted in the possessions one had that they would then give
away (Kehoe, 1995, p.114). It was actually through the giving away of
gifts that Natives gained prestige and power (Kehoe, 1995, p.115). One
more bit of evidence that women had power and respect was that
traditionally many societies, including the Iroquois, Cherokee and
Navajo were matriarchal and some were matrilocal (Maltz &
Archambault, 1995, pp.234-236). Unfortunately European patriarchal
ideology has taken over in most contemporary Native societies.
In the past most Native women were considered equal to
men. They had power politically, spiritually, medically and generally in
everyday life. What has happened to that equality and power today?
Native women in contemporary society sit at the bottom of the social
hierarchy. They struggle with sexism and racism and are not generally
respected even by their own people. Economically they are more
disadvantaged than non- First Nations people and First Nations men
(Canada, 1979, p.31). How did this drastic change come about?
It is well documented that the beginning of the decline
for all First Nations people began with colonization. The arrival of
European settlers and the move of Aboriginal people to reserves was the
beginning of a long hard road for Native people. When Native people were
put on reserves they lost their ability to be self-sufficient. In the
west this move to reserves coincided with the depletion of the buffalo
(Plains Indians). This loss of buffalo made it easy for the Europeans to
convince Native people to move to reserves because they were starving
and often saw it as their only hope for survival (Plains Indians).
In 1876 the Indian Act was legislated in Canada, which
deprived Native women of status if they married a non-Indian man
(Voyageur, 1993, p.89). This was a sexually discriminatory piece of
legislation that did not apply equally to men (Voyageur, 1993, p. 89).
This legislation limited women's political and social rights and put
women in a subordinate position to men who actually gained political
power (Voyageur, 1993, p.89) In 1951 the Indian Act further damaged
women by denying them the right to vote in band elections (Voyageur,
1993, p.89). They were not allowed to hold elected office or participate
in public meetings that decided band business (Fisk, 1990, p.122).
Further to this loss of power, the Indian Act determined legal status by
patrilineal affiliation leaving women no rights and subordinating them
to the level of objects owned by their husbands (Voyageur, 1992, p.89).
This meant that if a woman's husband enfranchised then automatically she
and her children became enfranchised as well. If she married a man from
another tribe she became a member of his tribe yet if he died she could
not return to her reserve (Voyageur, 1992, p.90). An additional insult
was that when her husband died his estate passed to his children and not
to his wife (Voyageur, 1993 p. 90). “Under the Indian Act, Indian women
lost their independence, were not legal entities unto themselves, and
had no legal recourse to remedy the situation”(Voyageur, 1993, p.90).
We can see that over time the power of women was
totally eroded. Even within her own culture she had become a possession
to her husband with no say in her own life. Where autonomy used to be
important to all tribe members the European way had taken over and
equality was eroded, individuality became dominant. One more event has
contributed to women's loss of status. Traditionally women were
nurturers, educators and providers of the children but with the advent
of residential schools came the loss of her children. Young Native
children were taken to live in Residential schools; against the will of
their families, and when the children were taken the mothers lost their
role as nurturer and educator. This was a harsh blow to the status and
power Native women originally had. Children who grew up in residential
schools without the love and guidance of their mothers resulted in the
depleted ability of those children to parent and nurture their own
children in the next generation (Voyageur, 2000, p87). The children
suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse (Voyageur, 2000, p.
87). This led to loss of health, pride, culture, language and ultimately
loss of self (Voyageur, 2000, p.87).
Everything that was taken from Native women by
colonization, reserve life, European governments, the Indian Act and
residential schools is devastating. But the strength of women, the
“wildish woman” that Clarissa Pinkola Estes (1995), speaks of has not
died in Native women. Cora Voyageur (2000) says, “Despite the changes
endured by indigenous peoples, many aspects of the traditional Native
women's roles have remained constant. Women are still responsible for
maintaining culture, stabilizing the community, and caring for future
generations. They still play an influential yet unrecognized and
unappreciated role in the community (p.82).” Contemporary Native women
are slowly getting their power back. When the Bill of Rights was passed
in 1960 Aboriginal women saw that they had a foothold, which would gain
back the rights they lost to the Indian Act (Voyageur, 2000, p. 88). The
Bill of Rights guaranteed equality to all under the law, regardless of
race or sex (Voyageur, 2000, p.91). This meant that those women who lost
their Indian status when they married non-Native men had been treated
unfairly. Jeannette Corbiere Lavell and Yvonne Bedard took their cases
to the Supreme Court to gain full person status for Native women
(Voyageur, 2000, p. 91). Sandra Lovelace also challenged the Indian Act
in 1981 (Voyageur, 2000, p.92). In 1982 the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms was passed which gave all people equal benefit of the law
without discrimination based on sex or race (Voyageur, 2000, p. 92).
This gave Native women the final foothold they needed to regain their
rights. In 1985 Bill C-31 came into effect, which rectified Native
women's forced loss of status and restored Indian status to people who
had been enfranchised (Voyageur, 2000, p. 93). Unfortunately this did
not mean that their band would accept them. Some bands did not allow
them in because it would mean sharing resources with more people from a
budget that was already very small (Voyageur, 2000, p.96). Women's fight
to regain their rights was a long and hard battle but they never quit
trying and that is the attitude that will win back their power in
contemporary society.
Native women suffer many abuses in contemporary society.
They struggle against an epidemic of abuse that is physical, sexual and
emotional at the hands of society and from within their own culture and
families. Emma LaRocque (1994) believes that the use of the label
“squaw” is “grotesque and dehumanizing rendering women and girls
vulnerable to physical, psychological and sexual violence (p.74). This
attitude is further perpetuated in a legal system that does little or
nothing about crimes like these (LaRocque, 1994, p.77-78). Teen suicides
in the Aboriginal communities are 5 times higher for young males than
the national average and 3 times higher for females (Fox & Long,
2000. pp.275). Poverty, lack of education, and joblessness, drug and
alcohol abuse and hopelessness are some of the main contributors to
these shocking statistics (Fox & Long, 2000, pp.271-287). Fournier
and Cray (1998) remark that The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
warned in a special report that “a significant number of Aboriginal
people in this country believe they have more reasons to die than to
live (p.307)”. This is a truly sad state of affairs.
Native women have initiated many programs throughout
the country. There are programs to educate women and men about fetal
alcohol syndrome and how to prevent it, AIDS prevention programs,
suicide awareness education and domestic violence prevention, dental
health, sexual health and nutritional health programs 9KThe Native
American Women's Health Education Resource Center). Youth wellness and
childcare programs are also very important and include breakfast and hot
lunch programs as well as emergency childcare. Battered women's
shelters are also more available to Aboriginal women (The Native
American Women's Health Education Resource Center). Education is another
area that Native women are working to improve. There is a high rate of
drop out in Native children (Hare & Barman, 2000, p.331-338). Jan
Hare and Jean Barman (2000) discuss the fact that Aboriginal groups
reject the notion of integrated schools because they fail to address the
needs and goals of Aboriginal people. In 1972 the National Indian
Brotherhood presented an education policy that highlighted parental
responsibility, curriculum changes, teachers, facilities and services as
areas that need attention and improvement (Hare & Barman, 2000,
p.343-355). The main prerequisite is that Indians be allowed to control
Indian education (Hare and Barman, 2000, p.351). As you can see that
policy was presented thirty-three years ago and only minor changes have
been made but Native women keep fighting for a better life.
Many Aboriginal people have moved off of the reserves
looking for work and a better life (Peters, 2000, p.237-261). But a lack
of education coupled with racism and sexism could result in their
finding fewer jobs. There is deep poverty in urban areas but with no
jobs to be had on the reserves they usually stay in the cities (Peters,
2000, p. 238-245). Evelyn Peters (2000) states that in order for
Aboriginal people to survive in the city they must regain their cultural
heritage and until they do they are not whole people and their
communities are weak (p.257). Peters (2000) believes that friendship
centers are meeting some of the needs of the Aboriginal people for
friendship, access to elders, language education and celebrations but
they are sorely under funded (pp.257-261). Space is needed for
Aboriginal activities and ceremonies and cultural education for
children, youth and adults (Peters, 2000, pp.257-261).
Although Native peoples are facing extreme pressure and
hardship there is still hope. Angela Chalmers, the first woman to win
the 1500-meter and the 3000-meter races in 1990 at the Commonwealth
Games, credits her Aboriginal roots for teaching her patience and
perseverance (Fournier& Cray, 2000, p.303). It is women like Angela
who are the role models for other young women. She talks to young Native
women and tells them to “put that anger to good use: in physical
exertion, in confidence and in passion” (Fournier & Crey, 2000,
p.303)”. She also tells them that “because we've been through a lot
we're strong people and we have a deep well of strength to draw on
(Fournier & Crey, 2000, p.303).” Role models are an essential
element in teaching young women that they really can achieve if they
never give up. The Native Youth Movement is an organization set up to
offer the same things to Aboriginal kids that gangs do – belonging, a
sense of family and empowerment (Fournier & Cray, 2000, p.311). This
organization sees Aboriginal youth activism as a vital alternative to
apathy and violence (Fournier and Cray, 2000,p.311). Wendy Grant-John is
an Aboriginal woman who competed for national chief and although she
lost that bid she remains passionate about what she sees are important
steps toward healing her culture. “We need to empower our youth by
providing stronger education and employment options, to overcome with
concrete action and goals the growing feeling of hopelessness, the
unacceptable levels of suicide, poverty and other signs of despair
(p.314).”
In conclusion it seems apparent that the way to heal a
Nation is through the children. Native people begin by giving children a
family through parents, grandparents; extended family or even if it is
through a Native social service group or club. Help children achieve an
education even if it means tailoring the education system to meet the
specific needs of Aboriginal children. In saying this we understand that
funding needs to be adequately provided. The aid of parents is enlisted
toward this goal by teaching them to trust and value education for
their children. Providing young people with good role models is
imperative. This is achieved by introducing them to educated successful
adults in the worlds of sports, medicine, law, television, movies, the
arts and business. Young Aboriginal children require adequate food,
housing, health care, and parenting as the basic necessities of life but
an astonishing number of these children are not getting these needs met
and this needs to change. Young Aboriginal people develop a sense of
belonging in this world and they do this through teachers like their
elders, mothers and fathers who can teach them about their language and
their culture and make them proud of whom they are. Provisions must be
made so that young people see more reasons to live than to die.
Native women are providing the youth in Native cultures
with as much as they can. Many Native women are getting post-secondary
education and then in turn teach or help their people and their
families. Native women set up groups and associations to help those who
cannot help themselves. The grandmothers are wise and willing to teach
the youth about their cultures and tell the stories that teach pride in
self. It appears that the “wildish woman” is breaking out and fighting
back with quiet strength to regain the Aboriginal woman's rightful place
in the future. She is the provider, nurturer, mother, counselor and she
is the spiritual and medical healer to her people.
( this article has been taken from a website name lurjMOHD FAISAL ANAS
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