The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

Femaleness was highly valued, both respected and feared, and
all social institutions reflected this attitude. Even modern
sayings, such as the Cheyenne statement that a people is not
conquered until the hearts of the women are on the ground,
express the Indians’ understanding that without the power of
woman the people will not live, but with it, they will endure and
prosper.
Indians did not confine this belief in the central importance of
female energy to matters of worship. Among many of the tribes
(perhaps as many as 70 percent of them in North America
alone), this belief was reflected in all of their social institutions.
The Iroquois Constitution or White Roots of Peace, also called
the Great Law of the Iroquois, codified the Matrons’ decisionmaking
and economic power:
The lineal descent of the people of the Five Fires [the
Iroquois Nations] shall run in the female line. Women shall
be considered the progenitors of the Nation. They shall own
the land and the soil. Men and women shall follow the
status of their mothers. (Article 44)
The women heirs of the chieftainship titles of the League
shall be called Oiner or Otinner [Noble] for all time to
come. (Article 45)
If a disobedient chief persists in his disobedience after
three warnings [by his female relatives, by his male
relatives, and by one of his fellow council members, in that
order], the matter shall go to the council of War Chiefs. The
Chiefs shall then take away the title of the erring chief by
order of the women in whom the title is vested. When the
chief is deposed, the women shall notify the chiefs of the
League … and the chiefs of the League shall sanction the
act. The women will then select another of their sons as a
candidate and the chiefs shall elect him. (Article 19)
(Emphasis mine) 1