The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

The other two women agree, noting that traditionally respect for
women by Indian men was high and that all work was valued
because it was all important. At this the interviewer asked about
division of labor into gender roles, and the Iroquois women
responded that work was generally divided along gender lines,
but I think with us there were never such sharp divisions
between these areas as with you. The men had to be able to
cook since, for example, they were often away hunting or
fighting. And there were also girl warriors. In some tribes
there were also women leaders. Of course, there are great
differences between the Indian nations, but most of them did
not have this sharp division of roles. There were also girls
who were raised as boys, if, for example, a family only had
daughters. And these women would then marry other
women. We even have special initiation rites for
transvestites … In those families which lead a traditional
lifestyle, it is still the case that the men have great respect
for the women. And with the help of the spiritual
movement, things have been changing over the last ten
years. More and more Indians are returning to the
traditional ways. The old people are teaching us. 12
The way it is now is generally very different from the way it
was; the devaluation of women that has accompanied
Christianization and westernization is not a simple matter of loss
of status. It also involves increases in violence against women
by men, a phenomenon not experienced until recently and largely
attributable to colonization and westernization.
Many people believe that Indian men have suffered more
damage to their traditional status than have Indian women, but I
think that belief is more a reflection of colonial attitudes toward
the primacy of male experience than of historical fact. While
women still play the traditional role of housekeeper,