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A Tribute to Navajo Women
By Dewitt Mosby
Accounts of Native American Indian life often tell of the almost slave-like position of women in tribal societies. These accounts are not always accurate. While some cultures did hold women in low esteem, the opposite is true for the Navajo nation. Unique among Native American tribes the Navajo culture is matrilineal. Basically this means that ones family identity is derived from their mother and not their father. Not only were Navajo women considered the head of their immediate family, they are well established as having a large control of both social and economical issues of tribal life. The Navajo people trace their ancestry through their mothers. This bestows great importance and reference on the women in their society. Indeed, Navajo women were much more independent and "liberated" in the 1800s than their "white" counterparts. At that time, pioneer women were still essentially thought of as property of their husbands, without the right to vote, own land or sign contracts. While at the same time Navajo women commonly held positions of authority, participated in tribal decisions and owned their ancestral homes. Navajo women were the owners of all family property - the land, the sheep, the horses and the dwellings. Navajo mothers and their daughters resided with their grandmothers and great-grandmother's on land that had been passed from mother to daughter for many generations. Domestic possessions were passed down through mothers to daughters, who had trained from early childhood in the Navajo ways to manage them. It was the Navajo women who tended the sheep that provided them with food and wool. Women processed the wool and made textiles which were often sold for income. It was the women that planted and gathered the corn and other crops for the table. Generally it was the Navajo women that were the potters and basket weavers; ancestral crafts that today provides additional income sources. Customarily it was the women who provided and controlled most of the money for the family's existence. Perhaps it is this high honor and respect that the Navajo hold for their women, that have enabled them to emerge as the largest remaining Native American culture in the U.S. today. |
Navajo Mother teaches Daughter about sheep
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The copyright for this content entitled "A Tribute to Navajo Women" has been specified by the contributor as:
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May, 2012
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