Roles Of Native American Women

Alex Gaines
HISTORY 265
Melissa Payne
6 October 2017
MIDTERM EXAM
FIRST AMERICAN WOMEN How did gender roles define the lives of Native Americans before contact? How did European men react to women’s roles in Native societies? Why did they believe women worked more than men? Ancient stories of the Iroquois tell that women were center of attention and were necessary for a group to survive. They were the farmers, cooks, and responsible for the maintenance of their homes. They shaped their community’s spiritual and daily activities. The responsibility of man was to provide meat for their families by hunting, and protection by warfare. Once hunting was finished, women would turn the hides of buffalo or deer into clothing, blankets, and

European men thought it was crazy that women were doing heavy lifting and maintenance of the homes along with holding political and economic power. European women were too dainty and frail to hold jobs other than being domestic in the home. European men hadn't seen women with this many responsibilities and a voice in society.
COLONIAL WOMEN
What role did women play in resistance to British rule and during the Revolutionary War? How did their roles change after American Independence and did some women oppose these roles?
Before the Revolution women held domestic duties like they always had along with staying subordinate to their husbands and their

What was life like for pioneer women along the western trails? What economic opportunities were available to women in the West?
The early Western pioneers were colonists coming from the East in search of a fresh and freer way of life. These favorable circumstances included richness or increased richness, religious and or social freedom, and retreat from outbreak of diseases. Gold had been discovered out west, laborers were looking for better pay and farmers were in search for better soil to invest in to create business and revenue. These pioneers felt justified to take this land over because they thought of this as a "manifest destiny," a term conceived by John O'Sullivan in 1845, and meant that Western expansion was always supposed to happen because it was appointed by God. A person would think that everyone wanted a journey to a new life but that wasn’t always the case for women; in fact, most didn't want to go but most didn’t have a choice but to start a new life, and sometimes, leave their families behind. Though there wasn't much room in a hot wagon and most women had to walk; women were responsible for children, laundry, sometimes helping wrangle lives stock, cleaning, including after those who were sick, and cooking. Because of these responsibilities, their days started earlier and ended later than the man. These women were very important for Westward expansion because