Self-Determination and Indigenous Women: Increasing Legitimacy through Inclusion

Abstract

Indigenous advocates have been pushing for the recognition of the right to self-determination. These claims to exercise the right to self-determination have been met with resistance by some Indigenous women and organizations because colonization was a gendered enterprise and, thus, had differential impacts on Indigenous women. This article highlights the differential impacts of colonization on Indigenous women and the reactions from Indigenous organizations, both which contribute to Indigenous women’s concerns on whether they will benefit from expressions of self-determination. The article then provides an overview of the right to self-determination, explaining its genesis and its relevance to Indigenous peoples in Canada. Finally, the article concludes by presenting factors for assessing legitimacy as a framework to promote the inclusion of Indigenous women in expressions of self-determination. The article asserts that including Indigenous women in the process and in addressing Indigenous women’s particular political, social, cultural, and economic development is the only way for decolonization to fully occur.