Gender roles among the indigenous peoples of North America

Traditional Apache have a number of gender roles, however the same skills are learned by both females and males. All children traditionally learn how to cook, follow tracks, skin leather, sew stitches, ride horses, and use weapons.[1]

Eastern Woodland communities vary widely in whether they divide labor based on sex. In general, like in the Plains nations, women own the home while men's work may involve more travel.[2] Narragansett men in farming communities have traditionally helped clear the fields, cultivate the crops and assist with the harvesting, whereas women hold authority in the home.[3] Among the Lenape, men and women have both participated in agriculture and hunting according to age and ability, although primary leadership in agriculture traditionally belongs to women, while men have generally held more responsibility in the area of hunting. Whether gained by hunting, fishing or agriculture, older Lenape women take responsibility for community food distribution. Land management, whether used for hunting or agriculture, also is the traditional responsibility of Lenape women.[4]

Historically, a number of social norms in Eastern Woodland communities demonstrate a balance of power held between women and men. Men and women have traditionally both had the final say over who they would end up marrying, though parents usually have a great deal of influence as well.[5]

The Hopi (in what is now the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona) are traditionally both matriarchal and matrilineal,[6] with egalitarian roles in community, and no sense of superiority or inferiority based on sex or gender.[7] Both women and men have traditionally participated in politics and community management,[8] although colonization has brought patriarchal influences that have seen changes in the traditional structures and formerly-higher status of women.[9] However, even with these changes, matrilineal structures still remain, along with the central role of the mothers and grandmothers in the family, household and clan structure.[10][11]

The Haudenosaunee are a matriarchal society. Traditionally, the Clan Mother has held the ultimate power over all decisions, though her specific role has varied by Nation. In this structure the men under her are the Chiefs, serving primarily in a diplomatic capacity. Tradition holds that she has the power to veto any idea proposed by her chiefs, and that both the naming traditions and transfer of political power are matrilineal. [12]

Kalapuya man of today's Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA; circa 1840, by Alfred Thomas Agate

The Kalapuya had a patriarchal society consisting of bands, or villages, usually led in social and political life by a male leader or group of leaders.[13] The primary leader was generally the man with the greatest wealth.[14] While female leaders did exist, it was more common for a woman to gain status in spiritual leadership. Kalapuya bands typically consisted of extended families of related men, their wives, and children.[14] Ceremonial leaders could be male or female, and spiritual power was regarded as more valuable than material wealth. As such the spiritual leaders were often more influential than the political leaders.[15]

Kalapuya males usually hunted while the women and young children gathered food and set up camps. As the vast majority of the Kalapuya diet consisted largely of gathered food, the women supplied most of the sustenance. Women were also in charge of food preparation, preservation and storage.[16] The food hunted by men usually consisted of deer and elk, and fish from the rivers of the Willamette valley, including salmon and eel. Plants gathered included wapato, tarweed seeds, hazelnuts, and especially camas. The camas bulbs were cooked by women into a cake-like bread which was considered valuable. [17]

Women were involved in the community life and expressed their individual opinions.[16] When a man wanted to marry a woman, he had to pay a bride price to her father.[18] If a man slept with or raped another man's wife, he was required to pay the bride price to the husband. If he did not, he would be cut on the arm or face. If the man could pay the price, he could take the woman to be his wife.[19]

There is reference to gender variant people being accepted in Kalapuya culture. A Kalapuya spiritual person named Ci'mxin is recalled by John B. Hudson in his interviews from the Kalapuya Texts:

After the arrival of Europeans to the Willamette Valley, and creation of the Grand Ronde Reservation and boarding schools such as Chemawa Indian School, children of the Kalapuya people were taught the typical gender roles of Europeans.[21]

The third gender role of nádleehi (meaning "one who is transformed" or "one who changes"), beyond contemporary Anglo-American definition limits of gender, is part of the Navajo Nation society, a "two-spirit" cultural role. The renowned 19th century Navajo artist Hosteen Klah (1849–1896) is an example.[22][23][24]

During the early colonial period, Nez Perce communities tended to have specific gender roles. Men were responsible for the production of equipment used for hunting, fishing and protection of their communities as well as the performance of these activities. Men made up the governing bodies of villages which were composed of a council and headman.[25][26][27]

Nez Perce women in the early contact period were responsible for maintaining the household which included the production of utilitarian tools for the home. The harvest of medicinal plants was the responsibility of the women in the community due to their extensive knowledge. Edibles were harvested by both women and children. Women also regularly participated in politics, but due to their responsibilities to their families and medicine gathering, they did not hold office.[25][26][27]

Critical knowledge regarding culture and tradition were passed down by all the elders of the community.[25][26][27]

The Lakota, Dakota and Nakota peoples, in addition to other Siouan-speaking people like the Omaha, Osage and Ponca, are patriarchal or patrilineal and have historically had highly defined gender roles.[28][29] In such tribes, hereditary leadership would pass through the male line, while children are considered to belong to the father and his clan. If a woman marries outside the tribe, she is no longer considered to be part of it, and her children would share the ethnicity and culture of their father.[29] In the 19th century, the men customarily harvested wild rice whereas women harvested all other grain (among the Dakota or Santee).[30] The winkte are a social category in Lakota culture, of male people who adopt the clothing, work, and mannerisms that Lakota culture usually considers feminine.[31] Usually winkte are homosexual, and sometimes the word is also used for gay men who are not in any other way gender-variant.[31]

• Native Americans in the United States – Gender roles
• Indigenous feminism
• Matriarchy (the Native Americans subsection)
• Missing and murdered Indigenous women
• Native American feminism
• Patriarchy
• Sexual victimization of Native American women
• Two-Spirit