Native American Iroquois Women's Roles

The Women of the Native American Iroquois tribes have enjoyed a much more active role in politics than that of their European counterparts. In fact, they had a form of equality that was unheard of in European society in the late 1700s, where women were normally considered inferior to men. In almost every instance, the wife was expected to be subordinate to the husband whose authority was absolute over her. They were thought to be weak; and expected to be subservient to their husband in all things. It was socially acceptable for a man to beat his wife if she did not obey him. In most colonies, women could not vote, preach, hold office, go to school or college, make contracts, or sue. (The exception was the Quakers, who had strong ideas about
For example, if a man wanted to go on an extended journey and the women did not approve, they could deny him food and supplies for it. They were a matrilineal culture. Meaning that when a marriage took place, the family moved into the longhouse of the mother, and lineage was traced through her. The tribal leadership could also be called matrilineal because the sachem’s (chiefs/leaders) sister was responsible for choosing his successor. It fell to the women to nominate men into positions of power. They also had the power to vote a leader out if they felt that he was abusing his power or not fulfilling his responsibilities. He would generally get three warnings before the women would vote him
It was not owned in the way Europeans’ owned it with a deed of ownership until it was sold or passed on. It was more that a woman claimed a generally small parcel of land for herself or in some cases it was divided into sections among the women of the clan. If she abandoned that land it was free to any other woman that wanted it. The women also owned the Kanonsionni dwellings, also known as “long houses” or “extended houses”. In the English colonies, the rights a woman had to property were passed on to her husband when she got married. Divorce was very rarely an option for them and if it was the husband usually got everything including children over the age of seven. “If an Iroquois woman felt that a man was not being a good husband to her or a good father for her children, she could ask him to leave their dwelling and essentially divorce the man. The iroquois woman’s husband would normally live in the home of the wife’s clan and if the husband was asked to leave the family, the children remained with their mother.” The men owned their weapons, the clothes on their backs, and a few personal belongings; while women owned the farm equipment, cooking equipment, long houses and land that they