Native American Women: Our Voice, the Air

Abstract

American Indian women are a diverse group of people with many different attitudes, opinions, and lifestyles. We are from many different nations, each with separate languages and cultures. We have grown up on reservations, allotment lands, and in urban communities. And yet, in spite of these apparent differences, Indian women have many experiences in common and are now seeking out new forms of survival, new ways of dealing with the complexities of life in contemporary America. The continuation of tribal identity attests to the strengths of American Indians. Commonly seen by outsiders as a vanishing group, tribal people have not only managed to maintain their own traditions, but have been responsible for creating cohesive intertribal communities. Many of the older ways infuse the new, and this transformation has not diminished the traditions of people who must live in a doubly complex bicultural society, but has vitalized cultural identity and created new forms of selfdefinition and change that is positive. For people who are bicultural, and nearly all Indians fit this category, the conflicts and clashes between the world of Anglo and the world of Indian are critical ones. Nevertheless, Indian women have been competently succeeding at functioning equally well in two very different worlds. This is a task that demands strength and intelligence. Indian women are aware of the difficult position of being female and minority. Tribal women have the lowest wages in the country, and often because of that poverty, Indian children are removed from homes and communities more often than children of any other background. Approximately one-third of all Indian children are removed from homes and placed in foster care or adoptive placement. Owanah Anderson, the Choctaw director of OHOYO, the Indian-Alaska Native Women's Resource Center, stated that 67 percent of the Winnebago households are headed by women. is no day care for the children, and the average annual income of each woman is $1,690. She stated, There are those who say women are equal in our cultures. Which ones? Many Indian women's organizations have been formed in response to this question. The North American Indian Women's Association, Women of All Red Nations, and OHOYO are just a few of these organizations. Feminism is a complicated issue for Indian women because what affects the women also affects the entire community. As individual nations, we have allegiances to the members of our tribes that seldom exist for non-Indian American women. Political and economic injustices are practiced against entire tribes, and are not limited to just the women. The issue of survival affects all people and the major efforts of Indian feminists have been struggles against the dominant society. In the article submitted by Shirley Hill Witt, Annie Dodge Wauneka, a Navajo activist, urges Indian women to become more active in politics and states that she sees the discrimination of Indian women as a by-product of federal intervention into tribal affairs, not discrimination which has grown from within Indian communities.