The women of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy have been held in esteem and living in equality with men for centuries. The freedoms enjoyed by Haudenosaunee women during the 19th century were very glaringly not experienced by the non-Native women of the same time period.

In her book Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists, Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D., succinctly spells out the differences between the two groups in the following excerpt:

“Matilda Joslyn Gage and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the major theoreticians of the woman’s rights movement, claimed the society in which they lived was based on the oppression of women. Haudenosaunee society, on the other hand, was organized to maintain a balance of equality between women and men.”

Shown here are the contrasting differences between the two worlds of women who lived side-by-side in this region of upstate New York in 1848.

Haudenosaunee:

Social

Children are members of the  mother’s clan

Violence against women not part of culture, and dealt with seriously when occurs

Clothing fosters health, freedom of movement, independence

Women’s responsibilities have a spiritual basis

 

Economic

Work is satisfying, done communally

Responsible for agriculture as well as home life

Work done under the direction of the women, working together

Each woman controls her own personal property

 

Spiritual

“Sky Woman” the spiritual being, catalyst for the world to see

Mother Earth and women spiritually interrelated

Women have responsibilities in ceremony

Responsibilities in balance with those of men

 

Political

Women choose their chief

Women hold key political offices (E.g. clan mothers)

Confederacy law ensures women’s political authority

Decision making by consensus, everyone has a voice

EuroAmerican:

Social

Children are the sole property of fathers

Husbands have a legal right and a religious responsibility to physically discipline wives

Clothing is restrictive, unhealthy and dangerous

Women’s subordination has a religious foundation

 

Economic

Work is drudgery, isolated

Responsible for home, but subordinate to husband

Work done under authority of the husband

No rights to her own property, body or children

 

Spiritual

No female in the godhead

Spirituality not connected to the earth

Women forbidden to speak in churches

Responsibilities subordinate to the men’s authority

 

Political

Illegal for women to vote

Women excluded from political office

Common law defines married women as “dead in the law”

Decision making by men, majority rules