Essay On Iroquois Woman

Despite countless numbers of stories told about how women were disrespected and unappreciated, although that might be true in some cases, it isn’t for the Iroquois. The Iroquois women were very well respected and honored and loved in their society. They had skills and wisdom that were valued in their communities and always were given a lot of power in decision making in what goes on in their society. Females had the right to vote for which men they want to see in “The Great Council”, which is a council that men control and is in charge of the area they are living in. They can also vote on the chief they want to see in charge of their community, or they can vote a chief out if they find he isn’t performing properly. The women also had a position called “The Clan Mother”. She is the wisest, eldest, and most respected woman of the area, she also got to remove or choose the sachem.
Women and men in Iroquois society helped each other out greatly, sometimes even doing one another’s
The Iroquois were, as a community, hugely dependant on agriculture since the land they lived on was fertile. The land needed to be taken care of because if otherwise, the clan mother could just easily take away their land and could be given to another clan (family). They also used parts of plants not only for food, for example the corncob was used as a fuel for meat being cooked and as a brush for cleaning and scrubbing. The dried leaves of the corn were used to make toys for children such as dolls; it was also used to make the filling for a pillow and ropes. Since the Iroquois were living in a forest, they depended on nature around them. Women grew and gathered vegetable, berried, nuts and fruit. During the winter they collected wild rice and maple sugar, which they stirred on an open fire to eventually create