Indigenous Women In North American Culture

Women in Indigenous cultures have always been uniquely shaped by European culture as well as their own. Indigenous women have had plenty of resistance techniques to help them cope with European culture. One technique, used near the beginning of the encounter of Europeans, was for women to lock themselves in their homes at night so the European men would not force themselves on to the women. The men, who came to Canada at the beginning of the encounter, often came by themselves and were lonely, which meant the women of the Indigenous culture were often prayed upon to satisfy the men. The other factor with this is women who were enslaved by the Indigenous cultures were sent to prostitute themselves to the men who arrived in the new world. (Canada

Indigenous women particularly were influenced by European culture when they became involved with men of a European background. Many times, when an Indigenous woman became involved with the man of said background their children would be sent back to Europe for schooling because that is where the better schools were, especially, around the time of confederation and before. As schools in North America became better known, children would be educated in the schools in North America. Education would be one of the most intrusive ways, in which, the government implemented European lifestyles on Indigenous people. That being said, these institutions would include day schools and Residential schools. Residential schools being the more intrusive because the children were removed from their families. Girls and boys would be separated from each other at the schools, (in both cases, day schools and Residential schools). However, Residential schools were more likely to implement this strategy because it was easier for them to succeed at this practice where the children were removed from their homes and lived at these

In many ways, this act singles out women throughout its history. Women did not have a choice to become enfranchised in many respects. If, the women’s husband became enfranchised or was a European the woman automatically lost their status, even if, they did not want to become enfranchised. This was written into the enfranchisement act and the Indian act. These laws have now been changed, but women who marry out are often noted as betraying their culture. Women in the Indigenous community have always had issues with how the Europeans view women. Before contact women in Indigenous culture were seen as important and helped run communities, but after contact the views of women changed. Women were seen as the weaker sex and that their place was in the home doing domestic duties, along with raising the children. Men were seen as the bread winners and must provide for their families. These ideal types of people were written into the Indian act showing that the government wanted women and men to play certain roles, which also meant limited opportunities for women. Another factor about the Indian act and the Reserves that were meant for the Indigenous people to live on, is they were often shrunk or moved without permission of the Indigenous population. The Reserves and the housing became a major issue for Indigenous people because the housing was often below standards and lacked basic necessities, (ie safe