The Struggle to Gain Equality: A Study of Native American Woman in Literature

For Europeans, the to be a member of a family you had to be related to the eldest male in the household. This was a total opposite to the Indian society. For example, in the Iroquois society, family membership was determined by the family of the female. At the head of each family was an elder woman, followed by her daughter, their husbands and children, and finally her unmarried granddaughters and grandsons. When one of the men married, he moved to the family of his wife. This was a very sharp contrast to the Europeans, whom had for centuries, been the top of their social hierarchy. In Europe, the women had a very relatively primitive, limited role in society. They were not allowed to attend or partake in political affairs, with very few exceptions. Now, on the other hand, in Indian society there was a council of chiefs, whom was all male, but they were appointed by an elder women. Also, during their deliberation over issues, the males made the final decision, but would be expelled from the council, if they didn?t conclude to the same decision that the elder woman came to. The women's main job in Indian society, was being in charge of cultivation of, harvest of, and distribution of food. When the men left to go hunting, women were left to run society. The Europeans simply believed that the males were far superior to the family, which is why women could not have jobs, and were left to

First Generations: Women in Colonial America by Carol Berkin, explains to us how different seventeenth century women’s lives were from what we know today. The seventeenth century women didn’t have many civil liberties. Carol Berkin gives us a view of life experience that these Colonial women and Native American women went through. This helps us perceive why many Colonial women may have chosen to stay with their Native American captors. Seventeenth century colonial women had little civil rights, especially after being married.

Today, women are believed to be equal to men however this was not always the case. During colonial times, women did not have the same roles as women do today; men and women had fixed roles in society. Roles between men and women do not exchange due to strict gender roles. Additionally, married women were not exactly considered as companions instead, as the husband’s property. Although gender roles were a significant issue among women in early America, another issue was the background of these women. Factors such as race, religion, geography/region, and social class were substantial to the extent of control a woman had over her own life. These factors significantly shaped the lives of these women. For instance, white women had differences

The standings of women differed between European and Native American societies. In the Native American societies, specifically Iroquois, women were the backbone. The women worked the fields and provided most of the non-meat food items. “In Iroquois villages a rough division of authority apparently existed, in which women took primary responsibility for not

One of the greatest turning points in American history was the Progressive era due to the advancements and social responses led by women and people of color. Many depictions of this era through secondary sources can be used to see the conflicts faced by the individuals of the time period and the political movement that ensued right after. Many favorable outcomes resulted from this time period including the start of reformation from women and people of color, and new entertainment source being literature. The nineteenth century was coming to an end, and new obstacles were coming into play. Urban growth, mass migration, currency deflation, and social issues all led to the

Looking at the two paintings of Native Americans working on farm land by Joseph-Francois Lafitau and Theodor de Bry. Both were European artist that depict Native American women gatherers and work at home. In Theodor de Bry painting he paints women planting seeds, as the men work the field to make the land suitable to grow plants. In Joseph-Francois Lafitau painting it shows men working the field while women plant seeds again, but it also shows women gatherer sap from trees to make syrup. Women were not equal to men in Native American society, but they had many more rights than European women.

The first article provides a complete understanding of how Iroquois women’s cultural and traditional identity in 18th century. Carson mentions that both male and female have power in Iroquois society but they received power from different sources and present them in a variety of way. For example, woman is usually responsible for farming as to provide corns, beans, squash that they grew. The Men takes care of outdoor job such as hunting. More importantly, men tried to consolidate and extend their powers in every aspect. According to the article, “male chiefs governed the villages and the larger confederacy, but in order to build a powerful consensus behind their leadership.” As a result, this economic relationship between I men and women allow them to have right and prerogatives.

When comparing the roles of American Indian women to that of female colonists, one can see major distinctions. The first thing that is abundantly clear is that American Indian women had much more power and independence than the female colonists. Female colonists were rarely allowed to do things without the approval of their male counterparts; whereas, American Indian women often had complete control in their villages/tribes. Male colonists believed that the native women had too much leverage and authority among their tribes because they were allowed to do things that the female colonists were not, including having roles such as politicians, physicians, chiefs, and warriors. Colonial women were almost forbidden to ever take part in such lifestyles

Although deviations emerged, women’s place in a culture derived from their ability to care for the children and inability to reconcile to much mobility with childrearing. Therefore, ancient cultures left the domestic sphere to women. They devoted themselves to small agricultural projects, homemaking, weaving, and raising children which allowed them to remain in a sole location for periods of time. Men provided for their families through hunting, gathering, or (in more developed civilizations) agricultural work. Native American women often managed the household including preparing the food, cloth-making, light agricultural work, and childrearing. They were seen as necessary, contributing members of the community. Across the ocean, African tribes shared land instead of obtaining

In the first chapter Simone de Beauvoir discusses her beliefs on feminism. De Beauvoir emerged during the first wave of feminism and she believed that women were one hundred percent equal to men. She states, “He is the Subject, he is the Absolute she is the other” (Schneir 8). De Beauvoir implies that what makes a man masculine is all the qualities he possesses that a female is supposed to lack. Thus, she did not want to do anything that would make her fit into the category of “other”.

Throughout history, women have been constantly objectified and forced into submission by a male dominated society. Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophical work, The Second Sex, echoes this intense oppression of women and reflects the first wave feminist movement. Her existentialist decoding of genders resulted in the idea of the Other, which explores the phenomenon that women are forced into the role of an object, while men are the subject. In the second chapter of The Second Sex, “The Girl”, Beauvoir further studies the idea of this oppression during one’s transition from a girl into a woman. Beauvoir states that no matter how much freedom and sense of self a girl holds, she is always forced into the role of the Other in society.

I was familiar with contemporary modern literature before this course, though I haven't read these particular stories before, except for "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid. My favorite readings were "Yellow Woman" and "Girl". After reading "Yellow Woman" which I'll admit I took for granted at first, I read "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit" also by Leslie Marmon Silko. I'm very interested now in Pueblo folktales and how they pertain to modern Native American literature, which is something I didn't expect. I didn't realize how much our history is affected by colonialism and bias and I was completely unaware of the fact that even though there are two histories or two sides of history, in North America we only teach one. I knew we had Native American

In the short story “Indian Camp”, by Ernest Hemingway, many controversies arise about the idea of feminism in the text. Feminism is a general term used to describe advocating women’s rights socially, politically, and making equal rights to those of men. Feminist criticism is looked through a “lens” along the line of gender roles in literature, the value of female characters within the text, and interpreting the perspective from which the text is written. Many of Hemingway’s female characters display anti-feminist attributes due to the role that women play or how they are referred to within a text by him or other characters. There are many assumptions that go along with the

De Beauvoir’s “Woman as Other” lays out an elaborate argument on gender inequality; using the term “other” to establish woman’s alternate, lesser important role throughout her work, the author dissects and examines from its origin the female’s secondary position in society in contrast to man. Indeed, from the beginning of recorded history, the duality of man, by definition, positions woman at the opposing end of the spectrum in relation to her male counterpart. Even by today’s modern and accepting standards, the female suffers under the brand of being the sub-standard half of the duality equation; compared to her male opponent, women are paid lower wages, have fewer and limited expression of rights, achieve lower

The concept of a woman as the Other bears similarity as well as ample contrast to Sartre’s metaphysical concept of the Other. One of the main differences as well as reasons for the slow rise of acceptance of women’s equality is that women do not form a community as firm as groups oppressed by their designation as the others. “The reason for this is that women lack concrete means for organizing themselves into a unit which can stand face to face with the correlative unit. They have no past, no history, no religion of their own; and they have no such solidarity of work and interest as that of the proletariat. They are not even promiscuously herded together in the way that creates community feeling among the American Negroes, the ghetto Jews, the workers of Saint-Denis, or the factory hands of Renault.” (5) Thus women are primarily members of those communities seeking equality in terms of ethnicity, race, etc. before their equality as women to men. According to de Beauvoir, the reason why women struggle to unify is that their loyalty belongs primarily to their socioeconomic class, ethnicity or belief rather