Women's Councils

[Wetzelbill]

Historically, American Indian women had important roles within their tribes. Aside from running day to day activities of the camp, they served in various leadership and spiritual positions. Many tribes had highly influential Women's Councils. These Women's Councils had many roles, for example there is evidence that they may have had the deciding vote on who was allowed to serve on the Men's Councils. There spokeswomen could speak during Men's Council and Women had inclusion in public policy decisions, even after tribes were colonized. Cherokee women, for example, had a Women's Council, and were allowed to bear arms, pick their own occupations and choose who they wanted to marry. Also interestingly enough, the Cherokee Women's Council decided the fate of all captives. They made the final decision and this was then relayed to the rest of the clans. Clan Mothers had to make these decisions because, in the end, captives who were allowed to live would have to be integrated into a family, and the affairs of this family would be run by a Clan mother. Clan mothers also had the right to wage war and, as I mentioned, bear arms. The war women carried the title of Beloved Women.

Eventually the British worked to change the importance of women in Cherokee affairs and began to take Cherokee men overseas to educate them in British ways. Eventually, these newly educated men, some of little Cherokee Blood, wielded great influence over the Cherokee Nation, and women's voices dwindled. After Christianization, women's voices were further blunted and the Cherokee society became more and more like the misogynistic Western model, which disenfranchised the voices of women and other minorities such as Blacks. This was, of course, a microcosm of the United States at the time, which was founded on male leadership who disenfranchised women and minorities and even enslaved Black people.

Most tribes came to be represented solely by men, in politics and in the judicial system etc. They adopted tribal constitutions based on the Western model provided by our own U.S. Constitution. Women dispossessed of their traditional tribal functions, endured male dominance along with all of the other socioeconomic problems that came with the breakdown of their tribal societies. Only in the last few decades have Indian women come to define themselves as a political group. They did so in an effort to regain their former stature, and to do so they had to become a separate political force. In the last few decades women have come to have a bigger role in tribal leadership, garnering election to tribal councils and as tribal chairs. However, I am interested in an idea.

I am a Blackfeet Indian. Maybe someday I will run for tribal council, I am sure I will at some point. And I would be interested in bringing back some of our more traditional aspects of governance. Now everybody can run for tribal council, well every enrolled tribal member who lives on the reservation, I should say, including women, and the Blackfeet Tribe currently has a woman on the council. However, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to put together a Blackfeet Women's Council to assist in advising the council and cultivate their own ideas to promote directly to the Blackfeet Tribal Council? I don't mean this in a patronizing way, what I mean is, traditionally, Blackfeet women had a specific voice in the society. I would like to get back to that, and I think it would be a beneficial policy to put together a Women's Council.

What do you all think of that idea?

[ensho]

1. I think it is a good idea. wishing you all well

it may be hard to get things started but keep at it.

[Book Lover]

2. I don't think it's wise and let me tell you why

From my perspective, you are trying to impose an order (a Women's Council) in an organization (tribal governance) where it doesn't fit. The organization where the Women's Council fits no longer exists; families are no longer organized the same way, war is not fought the same way. I would also say this idea has to come from the women who want to sit on the council: and it has to come organically, not imposed as an idea without direct purpose other than, "We did this once. Let's try some form of it again and see where that goes." If the ultimate function of these Councils is to create policy and then recommend that policy implementation to the tribal council - to me that merely echoes the position these councils once had.

Now that I've run my mouth off, I want to say that I know I am ignorant of the history of your tribe, all of the traditional functions of the Men's and Women's Councils, and how tribal councils work now. I am answering your idea in the abstract - your real-life experience may very well negate everything I've just said. I hope some of it was useful.

[Wetzelbill]

3. that's what I thought too

Because we now have adopted since the 1930s the same type of Western style of government that the U.S. and States have. Three Branches, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. However, I have heard of some tribes that augment their Tribal councils by incorporating traditional aspects too. Like, and the tribe slips my mind right now, a tribe which was historically influenced by spiritual advisors, set up an advisory board in the same style that they historically had, with Medicine Men on the board, and a head Medicine Man who was it's chairman, and they augmented the Tribal Council in an advisory capacity. I know our tribe has an honorary Elders council, and they meet with the tribal council, every so often and give out their own ideas and so on. A Woman's Council would be more involved than that, but the basic concept is similar.

In all honesty, my worry is not that it wouldn't fit, because I think it will fit pretty well, it is something that can be incorporated into our current type of governing style. My worry is that nobody will be interested. Especially women. I also wouldn't do something like write up the legislation and get it passed without any input. I would incorporate it if there was sufficient interest particularly by women in the idea. I want to make sure they have a voice in tribal affairs, and not only because of tradition, although that is part of it, but because women in my tribe, well minority women overall, go to college at a higher rate than men do. The smartest members of my tribe are women, like Elouise Cobell who is the lead plaintiff in the Cobell v Kempthorne lawsuit. Many of them don't run for office though. Also, women face different struggles on our reservation that are largely ignored. Such as differing types of abuse or even rape. But I wouldn't want to even go there if nobody was interested. I do hope some people are interested in it though, if and when I do move back. I may write a column about it, I do write for the local reservation paper.

[Wetzelbill]

4. It turns out they have already have one

The Blackfeet Honorary Women's Council. I'll have to look into it, I don't know if it exactly what I was interested in. Our tribal website is so bad, they had nothing listed on it. I can't find any real info on it, so it may not be as cultivated a concept as I would like.

[One_Life_To_Give]

5. Wouldn't that encourage the "Men's" Tribal Council?

Seems to me it could be a step backwards. From having a mixed gender coucil to having a distinct mens vs. womens council.

[Wetzelbill]

6. I looked it up

I don't see any evidence from any other tribes that have a Women's Council that anybody has tried to come up with a Men's one. Some tribes have Warrior Societies but they serve a different role. But a strictly seperate Men's council have no other precedent in this situation, as the old councils were typically mostly male. Or some tribes had what is called a Red Council and a White Council, one was women and the other was men and they worked together to make certain decisions. But in this case I doubt anybody would clamor for a seperate Men's Council.

[One_Life_To_Give]

7. But would it cause women to loose seats on the "Council"?

It appeared the "Coucil" was by default a "Mens" Council. And now with a integrated council wouldn't having the Integrated Council working with the Womens Council tend to bias the vote against placing a woman on the integrated council when she presumably could also have the same influence by being on the Womens Council. Hence by default bringing back the seperate Womens and Mens Councils as they existed before women were allowed on "The" Council.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[midnight]

9. When I read this, I think of so many other society's ie. Ireland.

Where women were priests, doctors, and lawyers. Rome came over and slowly took their power away. But now they have a women as head of that country, and the richest person in that country is a women too. A singer-Enya. I know that is spelled incorrectly. But the important thing is equality. Some men and women want it, and some men and women don't.