The Freedom of Iroquois Women

We tend to think that in Colonial America, all the rules and traditions that defined rights and protections for women must have been very, very primitive. That’s often true, usually true in fact. But not ALWAYS true.

Women of the Iroquois Confederacy, who lived in upstate New York, are one great exception to the rule. In the mid-1700s, these women ran the farms and villages. They owned the homes and all their furnishings. They managed the village treasury. They selected the chiefs for the village, and if necessary, replaced them when the women decided the chiefs they had appointed weren’t doing their jobs well.

Just as important, Iroquois women had the right to hold their own councils on any topic and report their opinions to the men of the tribe, who were not supposed to make any important decisions without first hearing from the women.

The lives of Iroquois women even affected the writings and opinions of the white women who launched the struggle for women’s rights in America. Women like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton personally knew and were inspired by Iroquois women and the lives they lived. These white women saw and experienced all the freedoms that Iroquois women enjoyed that they themselves did not.

A fascinating story, I think. But then, history is fascinating.