Introduction
The suffrage movement in the United States may be defined as a decades-long struggle for women’s civil rights and for the right to vote in particular. During the country’s early history, White women were regarded as socially inferior in comparison to White male citizens, and multiple basic rights were unavailable to them. Women could not vote, own property, or use any money even earned by themselves. Within marriage, they were obliged to serve husbands and focus on motherhood and housework. At the same time, White women shared the country with Native American communities in which the role of women was completely different. By having economic, political, and social authority in Indigenous communities, Native American women inspired the suffrage movement of Western women who were not regarded as independent human beings. However, in modern American society, Indigenous women still have to fight for their civil rights.
Suffrage Movement of the 19th Century
A continuously growing movement for women’s rights appeared in the first half of the 19th century. A considerable number of Euro-American women started to resist social norms related to role division on the basis of gender. In other words, they did not want to accept the notion “that the ideal woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family.” The suffrage movement began with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1948, a meeting organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton during which the majority of delegates agreed that American women should be viewed as independent and autonomous individuals with equal political rights with men. Regardless of multiple struggles with the opposition, through petitions to Congress, protests, court battles, and numerous state campaigns, the suffrage movement culminated in the Nineteenth Amendment that gave women the right to vote.
At the same time, before the amendment was ratified, suffragists undertook all efforts to initiate political, economic, and social changes that would be beneficial for all women in the United States. However, when progressive contributions were limited, the members of the suffrage movement searched for inspiration in cultures beyond the Euro-American one. Thus, Matilda Joslyn Gage, along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who organized the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), addressed the experience of Native American women from six nations that constituted the Iroquois Confederacy, or the Haudenosaunee. Living in its territory, the leaders of the suffrage movement admitted superior economic, political, and social positions of Indigenous people and the role of women in them.
Role of Women in Indigenous Communities
In general, the majority of Indigenous communities were characterized by the equality in rights of both women and men. Native American women played a highly important role in religious traditions, tribal governance, and everyday operations. Moreover, in Iroquois Confederacy, women had the unprecedented level of authority that may be regarded as the basis of tribes’ governmental and family structures. In its nations, women participated in decision-making concerning the tribal economy, engaging in war, land transfers, and the distribution the food. They had a right to own property, control their belongings, and raise children who stayed with them even after the parents’ separation. In relation to governance, Native American women shared equal political power with men and participated in making all significant decisions.
In addition, in Indigenous communities, there was a position of the clan mother regarded as of the same importance as the position of the chief. The clan mothers were regarded as genuine leader who had multiple responsibilities and commonly accepted authority at the same time. For example, they could advise a person suitable for the role of a chief. Meanwhile, they contributed to the chief’s dismissal if he made wrong decisions and ignored people’s needs. Moreover, for any Native American man, beating a woman or making rape was unthinkable as women were regarded as mutual life creators. Thus, women lived free from violence, and if any sexual crime occurred, the offended was severely punished by all clan members.
For Euro-American women, this freedom was inaccessible as their living conditions were completely opposite. According to the British Blackstone code that defined the common law in the United States in the 19th century, married women had no legal existence and no political and social power unlimited by husbands and the government. They did not have the right not only to property but to their bodies as well – husbands could beat and rape wives as these actions were accepable if they did not inflict permanent injury. A woman’s wage, owned or inherited property, and children belonged to a husband. She could not keep children with her even after a man’s death against his will. In the middle of the 19th century, all women who lived in the United States, regardless of their race and social and marital status, had no power in either political or family decisions. In contrast with Native American women who had full rights to their children, property, safety, political voice, justice, and identity, Western women could not vote or be elected – moreover, they were not viewed as independent human beings.
Native American Women After the 19th Amendment
With such a difference between the position of Native American and Euro-American women, the latter was involved in a continuous and fierce fight for their rights inspired by the former’s example. As a result, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920 – according to it, American women received the right to vote. However, this document did not eliminate inequities but promoted them as Native American women did not receive the right to vote or participate in elections. It is possible to say that since the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Western and Native American women exchanged their places in relation to the country, and Indigenous females started their own suffrage movement.
When Native American women started to raise their voices against discrimination, the leaders of a new movement started to appear. Gertrude Simmons Bonnin was of the first and most famous suffragists of Native American origin. She attracted the authorities’ attention not only to the inability of Native American women to vote but to discrimination against Indigenous people, a lack of American citizenship for them, and harmful governmental policies, such as the poor quality of health care and education. Although Bonnin promoted the preservation of Indian traditions and culture, she stated that people who were the first ones in the country’s territory could not be excluded from its political, economic, legal, and social systems.
Although a lot was done in relation to Native Americans’ rights by Bonnin and other activists, in the present day, Indian women still face certain limitations. As a matter of fact, their role in Indigenous communities perceived throughout history may serve as a link between traditional and modern mainstream values beneficial in political, business, and social spheres. In other words, Indigenous women may still take the positions of leaders supported by the experience of their ancestors. However, in the present day, it is White women and Indigenous men who participate in significant decision-making related to governance that requires the participation of Indian communities. In turn, Native American women lose their authority and still face limitations related to their right to vote. For instance, they cannot participate in the election due to the absence of required documents, while it is well-known that they do not have them at all.
Conclusion
Throughout history, Native American women played a highly essential role in Indigenous communities based on female authority. They were equal to men in almost all spheres of life. These women’s political, economic, and social positions inspired Western women to fight for their civil rights. At the same time, when these rights were obtained, Native American and Euro-American women exchanged their places, In the present day, it is Indian women who face limitations in multiple spheres in modern America and have to fight for their rights.
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