Women in North America
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Women in the Americas are women who were born in, who live in, and are from the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...
, a regional area which encompasses the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
region, Central America or Middle America,
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and South America. Their evolution, culture and history coincide with the history of the Americas, though often the experiences of women were different than those of male members of society. The differences in women's experiences often had to do with division of labor or constraints placed on them due to traditional roles in society. The effects of slavery, bondage and colonization has had a profound effect on women in the Americas over time. Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW), is a British organization that studies women's history in context of their connection to the Americas. Studying women's history allows for the restoration of lost information about how women lived, worked and participated in their cultures. Looking at women's history through the lens of a shared geography and culture allows useful comparisons of women's lives in the Americas without nationalism clouding the narrative.


History


Prehistory

Women in the Americas or the women who now populate what is known as
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, Central America, the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
and South America arrived via migration. Many origin stories of the Native peoples who populated the Americas contain themes of the people arriving via another place, whether that is from the ground or from waters, and journeying to their point of origin. The first historical evidence of people in the Americas from scientific study comes from
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...
of Paleoindians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge from
Beringia Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip ...
into the area now known as Alaska around 13,000 years ago. From the north, migrants from Beringia traveled to the south and from there branched from the west coast toward the east. Initially both men and women were involved in hunting and gathering, as survival depended on all members of society working together. Gathering and storing food, making shelter and clothing to survive harsh northern climates, required multiple skills. Though it is impossible to determine exactly what the division of labor was for early people, it is clear that adaptations were made by migrants to adjust to changing situations. Early archaeology focused on the importance of
big game hunting Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/ antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ( ...
as a survival strategy for Paleoindians, but newer research indicates that a more reliable strategy was more likely centered on gathering activities of women and children. As tools were developed, specific tasks may have taken on gendered aspects, possibly based upon negotiated roles, age, or preferences. When farming emerged in the Archaic period (8000 to 3000
B.C.E. Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
), and a shift from procuring food from available sources was made, societies were transformed toward more settled communities often developing social classes, trade and economic specialization of labor. Archaeological records indicate that women "played a strong role in this transition" throughout the Americas and the activities of women in the creation and use of stone tools is evidenced in the period. Burial records during the archaic period do not reveal much about status differences between women and men but confirm that they performed separate tasks. By the Formative stage, (sometimes called the Preclassic Era, which varies by region but typically spans from 3000 B.C.E. to 150 C.E.), women had become key figures in rituals and belief systems. Figurines from throughout the Americas, including the Caribbean region, depict women in postures of respect demonstrating power and prestige and participating in varied economic, political, religious and social activities. In the Classic stage and Post-Classic stage, the developmental eras between the Formative and
Colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
, imagery on Mayan pottery reveals women were depicted as deities in ritual practices and that their primary roles revolved around cooking, food preparation and clothing manufacture. In South America, the Classic stage is used to describe the period of settled, urban dwelling similar in structure to those found in Mesoamerica. During the same time-frame, in North America, studies confirm that there was no uniform practice toward women or their place in society. In some matrilineal societies, women were assigned specific roles in the ceremonial, economic and political customs of their societies. In some patrilineal groups, women gained prestige from their relationships with men but were allowed to own their own property and were honored for their participation in crafts and ceremonial functions. In
ambilineal Ambilineality is a form of kinship affiliation of cognatic descent that relies on self-defined affiliation within a given social system, meaning individuals have the choice to be affiliated with their mother's or father's group. Common features o ...
societies, women were allowed to own property, be recognized in political roles, and act in both economic and ritual capacities. Most Native cultures did not have hierarchical power structures where influence or authority was held by only one gender. Women were active both creating society and in leadership roles in this period; however, that changed. As societies in the Americas developed, the commitment to maize growing expanded throughout the region. By the time of
contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * ...
with Europeans, most North American women were farmers, and had accepted supporting roles to their men, who performed hunting, trade, and diplomatic functions.


European contact and colonization

Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
by and contact with Europeans brought extreme changes to all of the inhabitants of the Americas. Disease and a lack of immunity to African and European diseases killed more than 80% of the Native population of the Americas within the first two centuries of the Colonial period. The main European groups which colonized and fought over control of the region included the Dutch, English,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Portuguese, and Spanish. They established economic systems which benefited themselves, taking land and resources, as well as requiring labor from native peoples or importing slaves. Though bondage had existed among native cultures, captives or
slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
were treated as pawns to be used in diplomatic relations, for resolving disputes, to right wrongs, or as punishment for crimes and often had multiple functions, as laborers, prisoners, or property. The majority of captives were women, as they could be used as negotiators and also to replenish declining populations of either their own culture or their captor's culture. Though the result of the conquest varied because both the native cultures and the various European groups differed, male-female relationships were significantly altered by contact. French, Portuguese and Spanish colonizers brought Catholic religious beliefs to Latin America and
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, which imposed the subordination of women to male authority and removed women from ceremonial rites. Dutch and English colonizers brought predominantly Protestant indoctrination to native peoples with its male-dominated views of both gender roles and sexuality. Exploitation of South America and the Caribbean preceded that of the North American continent. In the earliest period, individuals were put ashore to explore areas, learn the language and customs and prepare to be translators and guides for later expeditioners. These explorers were encouraged to intermarry with indigenous women to strengthen and legitimize claims of power and territory. Violent contact followed, wherein indigenous people resisted and were either subjugated or brought to extinction by adventurers seeking riches and glory. Church functionaries were brought with troops to serve as administrators to the crown and serve as social control agents. Spanish and Portuguese missionaries strongly opposed sexual behaviors, including adultery, polygamy, premarital sex, as well as nudity, which were tolerated by some native populations. They sought to have women cover themselves, accept Christian marriage and become maternal, domestic caretakers and yet at the same time, the invading military forces sexually abused and seized women forcing them into concubinage. Equally, officially hostile to Two-Spirit sexual practices, Europeans used gender-variant native people to service their own needs. Violence was tolerated, and in some instances encouraged by priests, to tame women, keep them from sin, and to keep them obedient to their husbands. Iberian women did not arrive in the New World until battles had been won and towns and cities had been established. Thirty Spanish women were allowed to participate in
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...
' third voyage of 1498 if they were willing to become permanent inhabitants of the Spanish colony. The intent of allowing women passage was that they would marry and bring morality to the colonies, as well as being able to convince other high-born women of the wealth to be had by emigration. Spain's intent was to integrate the people they conquered into Spanish society and impose Iberian cultural and religious beliefs upon their new territories. Sometimes indigenous cultures would facilitate integration, such as the Inca in Peru who gave Incan women to the Spanish men as gifts and brides. The entry of Europeans into North America followed a similar pattern to early exploration period in South America. Individuals or small bands of soldiers were sent to areas along the Gulf and southeastern coast of
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
on expeditions of discovery. The soldiers demanded food, laborers to help them carry their goods, and women, who they used for cooking and sex. To the north, solitary French explorers and trappers moved into Canada and were followed by missionaries. No large-scale colonization effort was made, as native women were exploited to increase the population, but in the 1660s France did send about 850 young women (single or widowed) called
King's Daughters The King's Daughters (french: filles du roi or french: filles du roy, label=none in the spelling of the era) is a term used to refer to the approximately 800 young French women who immigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673 as part of a pr ...
("filles du roi") to Canada. They quickly found husbands among the predominantly male settlers, as well as a new life for themselves. They came mostly from poor families in the Paris area, Normandy and the central-western regions of France. A handful were ex-prostitutes, but only one is known to have practiced that trade in Canada. The Dutch and English colonization efforts were begun as a marriage between settlement and commerce. Dutch exploration began when the Dutch East India Company hired Henry Hudson in 1609 to discover a shipping route to Asia. Though the Northwest Passage was not discovered, involvement in the fur trade soon commenced and the colony of New Netherland was established. As the colony was a business venture, the directors weighed the profitability of expanding settlement against possible returns to be gleaned from the commercial possibilities and sold provisional orders for colonization to families. The policy ensured that women were part of the colonizing effort from conception and that the company valued the complementary roles that men and women would provide to growth of the colony. The first English settlers were not farmers, or familiar with the woodlands, but rather primarily townsfolk and city dwellers. A year after the founding of Jamestown, the first two women arrived at the settlement in 1608 and were followed the next year with approximately 120 more women, who were either wives and fiancées of previous settlers or where hired by the Virginia Company to help establish the colony. With the establishment of settlements, the
Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
was introduced and in fact, until 1800, the majority of women who arrived in the Americas were not free migrants, but rather arrived as slaves. Estimates are that four-fifths of all women who came to the Americas before 1800 were not European women.


Bondage and women in the Americas

Africans, Native Americans and Europeans all were part of the slave trade in early modern North America. Throughout the Americas, bondage existed—in warmer climates, where plantation systems developed, or in the northern areas, where women were either transported as criminals or worked as indentured servants. As early as the 1530s, Portugal began using slave labor in Brazil to work
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
plantations. Initially, the Portuguese used indigenous people as slaves, but in 1574, the crown decreed that unless the native people were cannibals, already slaves, or were spoils of a "just war", they could not be enslaved. The Spanish also used native people as forced labor, but because under the ''
encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...
'' system, neither the
estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representat ...
nor the ''indios'' were an inheritable asset, it differed from slavery, which was abolished in Spanish colonies in 1542. When the Dutch took over Brazilian sugar concerns in the early 17th century, they not only continued importing Africans for slave labor, but became instrumental in spreading sugar production throughout the Caribbean. A Dutch-trained Englishman, John Drax, modified farming methods used in Brazil to fit a small island model in Barbados in the mid-1650s, establishing that the Caribbean islands could supply sufficient goods for Amsterdam's refineries. During the same time frame, both France and England began using slavery in the West Indies. By the 1620s, the British began to expand into the Caribbean, taking former Spanish holdings. Initially the islands were planned to be settled by small farmers growing crops for export to England. Fairly quickly, as sugar was more profitable, small farmers were pushed out and plantation economies were developed. As indigenous labor on haciendas and ranches in the Spanish territories encompassed all of the ''indios'' within the confines of the estate, native women worked tending to children, the sick, and as cooks, but gendered tasks were often blurred and they worked in fields and tended to livestock as well. In areas in which the '' encomendero'' used his ''indios'' for mining, entire families participated. Church authorities in areas in which indigenous people and non-natives mingled, were prone to accuse natives of practicing witchcraft and Inquisitional '' auto-da-fés'' or torture were used to spur conversion to Catholicism. Women and children made up the majority of African slaves sent to the Americas, regardless of whether their labor was as northern domestics or southern field labor Slave women made up a large percentage of the workers on Caribbean
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
, indigo and coffee farms and were employed in all tasks not deemed as "skilled labor", including working as house servants, preparing fields for planting, planting indigo or coffee seeds, cutting cane and feeding the cuttings into the mill, or performing corvée labor. Women were also highly valued for their reproductive ability. African women who were enslaved and brought to the Americas were used to produce more slaves and were also exploited as sexual objects. In popular culture, they were depicted as monstrosities. Such depictions led Europeans to falsely assume that they could not feel pain, even in childbirth. After 1650, slavery in the Americas was increasingly tied to one's race, with women of color being defined as slaves who would have an indefinite period of service. Though initially indigenous people used female slaves as manual laborer, currency in diplomatic alliances and as sexual objects, as the plantation economy grew, tribes in the southeastern United States adapted the way they used slavery to fit the European model. Emulating and competing in the commerce systems of the white settlers, the Five Civilized Tribes not only used slave labor on their plantations in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, but also transported the practice to the plains in the 1830s, when they were removed to Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. Beginning in the late 16th century, Britain used its New World colonies as a place to transport criminals. Few systematic studies have been done on women who were transported; however, records on overall transports reveal that in the early period of the practice, many prisoners were political dissidents. They may have been shipped to Barbados, Jamaica, the
Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...
or to the continent. The practice increased after the passage of the Transportation Act 1717, and estimates are that somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 women were sent between 1718 and 1776 to the Americas. Transports' sentences could range from 7 years for committing petty crimes, usually thefts of under one
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
, to fourteen years for felonies to life for
pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
ed felons, who had been convicted of
capital crimes Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
. In popular culture, which early historians repeated as fact, many female transports were thought to be
prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
s. While there may have been commercial sex workers among transportees, since if charged with multiple crimes women were rarely tried for solicitation, there were no convictions for prostitution at
Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
during the period. As young women moved to English cities to find work, prosecutions of women surged, as authorities feared that women living alone would abandon their feminine natures and their families and take up unnatural behaviors, including
cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...
and other immoral acts. Records from Old Bailey indicate that women made up the majority of prosecutions in London and that the majority of their convictions were from theft of household goods or clothing and typically items were stolen from an employer. The profile of women transportees was a young woman between 15 and 30 years old, who was employed in domestic work. Rarely did they steal at the direction of men, as was formerly assumed, but rather acted as independent agents or if their actions were group activities, the group was made up of other women. After waiting for months, or even years in a British prison, transportees were loaded onto convict ships and sent abroad, often becoming mistresses or unwilling sexual partners to sailors during the voyage. Their labor was sold to cover the cost of their passage. In most instances, convict laborers were treated equally to slaves, but fear of contracting venereal diseases may have led convict women to be less sexually exploited than their African counterparts. Because of the social stigma of being a criminal, many convicted women returned to England after their sentences expired. The practice ended on continental North America with the outbreak of the American Revolution and a failed attempt at transporting convicts in 1789 to
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. Indentured servitude was another form of
bonded labor Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, the pe ...
, in which the laborer could agree to work for a specified period in exchange for payment by the employer to the ship captain who had transported the worker. During the early part of the 17th century, women made up 1/6th of migrant contractors; by the 18th century, their numbers surged to between 33% and 50% of indentures. Typical women indentured servants were unmarried, orphaned girls, between fifteen and twenty-four years old. They were unable to marry without the consent of their employers and many times could not leave or purchase goods without their employer's approval. Often, women's compensation was poor and they could be punished by whippings, fines, or even
branding Branding may refer to: Physical markings * Making a mark, typically by charring: ** Wood branding, permanently marking, by way of heat, typically of wood (also applied to plastic, cork, leather, etc.) ** Livestock branding, the marking of animals ...
for laziness, theft or escape attempts. Unlike slaves, indentured servants' period of labor ended at termination of their contracts. They were also allowed to sue employers for mistreatment and were required to be provided with a minimum level of food and clothing. Most women indentured servants during the colonial period were domestic workers and after completing their contracts, many married, though having lost up to eight years in servitude, they tended to have fewer children than other women in the period. Indentures declined during the period when convict labor surged, as transported convicts were paid lower wages, but indentures, particularly among Asian workers increased in the Caribbean after the abolition of slavery. Part of the decline might also be attributed to the shift to a redemptioner system in which instead of selling their labor to a guaranteed employment before they embarked, ship captains agreed to transport laborers and be reimbursed after arrival, selling contracts to the highest bidder. Change to the redemptioner system meant that families could immigrate together and increased German and Scotch-Irish immigration. When slavery was abolished and new means of cheap labor were sought, crimping inducements soared in Chinese ports and officials were loath to allow females to emigrate. Similarly, Japanese influence in Korea, and the desire of the Japanese to keep Korean labor out of U.S. markets in Hawaii, spurred labor recruiters acting in Korea to contract with more than 1000 Korean laborers—196 single men and 257 families—to work in the henequen industry in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Though some women were tricked into indenture agreements in the Caribbean, most voluntarily went because of poverty or social conditions. The numbers of Chinese women who migrated to Peru and Cuba remained relatively small, but some 250,000
Indian women The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the span of recorded Indian history. Their position in society deteriorated early in India's ancient period, especially in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordinat ...
agreed to indenture contracts, making up 40% of the Indian indentured laborers transported to the Caribbean. They encountered societal and family oppression, poverty, lack of power, sexual abuse and violence during their indenture, but most remained after their contracts were completed. Indentured labor in the Americas did not cease until well into the 20th century with India ending the practice in 1916, Britain prohibiting its debt contracts the following year, Mexico terminating its hacienda system in 1917, and agrarian reform and revolution, which ended Peru's hacienda system in 1952 and Bolivia's in 1969.


Women and social movements in the Americas

Women in the United States were extremely active in the abolition movement. Women "were on the front lines, traveling the countryside--speaking on the issue of slavery" and were considered the "backbone" of the anti-slavery movement. Lucretia Mott and William Lloyd Garrison eventually founded the
American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this society ...
and both were supportive of women being equal voices in the fight against slavery. Women such as Sarah McKim and
Susanna Wright Susanna Wright (August 4, 1697 – December 1, 1784) was an 18th-century colonial English American poet, pundit, botanist, business owner, and legal scholar who was influential in the political economy of Pennsylvania as one of the Thirteen Colo ...
, were active in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape into freedom in the North. Involvement wasn't limited to white women, as black women and Native American women were also involved in helping slaves escape, speaking out about slavery, and protecting them. Christiana Carteaux Bannister helped shelter around one hundred slaves who came through Boston, and Harriet Tubman was well known for her involvement in the Underground Railroad,
Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth (; born Isabella Baumfree; November 26, 1883) was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to f ...
gave speeches about the ills of slavery, and women such as Cherokee Sally Johnson, tried to protect her husband who was an escaped slave by deeding him part of her land. The
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...
, Iroquois and Seminole were known to assist fugitives. For many women, the struggle for abolishing slavery brought about a desire to fight for their own rights. Recognition that they were unable to participate at the London Anti-Slavery Convention in a forum trying to promote rights for another group of people, led
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
and Lucretia Mott to hold the Seneca Falls Convention for women's rights in 1848. In Latin America, the 19th century was a time of revolution with
Nationalist movements Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and Independence Wars erupting throughout the Spanish colonies, many led by
Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...
. Women were not simply spectators or support for men in the wars of Latin America, but took up arms, acted as spies and informants, organizers and nurses. In the Spanish Caribbean, though no armed rebellion took place, women collaborated with separatist groups and pressed for an end to slavery. Women's participation in the push for nationalism led the way to replacing the former trend for women to lead a life secluded from society to one of involvement and a push for more voice in social and political movements. In particular, women began organizing secondary schools for young women. Another press for societal improvement, the Temperance movement, shows a marked difference between the Americas. In the United States and Canada, women flocked to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). It was the largest non-denominational women's organization in Canada during the 19th century, as abuse of alcohol was widely credited as the cause of disease, immorality, poverty, prostitution, unemployment and violence. The WCTU also was the largest women's organization in the United States and seen as an organization that could help women gain protection for themselves and their children from the violence they experienced and achieve social reforms. Temperance did not receive such enthusiastic support in Latin America, though some countries, like Mexico, did attempt to curtail consumption. For many women who had been confined to their homes, producing and selling alcohol, had been a means of both economic support and a way to participate in business ventures in an environment where women were usually barred from participation. The burgeoning development to press for women's rights was somewhat different in Latin America than in North America. In the US-style model of individual freedom, rights for women meant women should have the same rights as men. The relational feminism which developed in Latin America was more geared to protect the rights that women gained as wives and mothers—rights that made them inherently different from men. Though different in some ways, in others, women's situation was the same, as 19th-century politicians believed that granting rights to minorities would undermine the authority of the state and threaten stability by overturning the social order. At the end of the century, women throughout the Americas began to participate in women's conferences and congresses as a way to discuss "scientific, economic, social and political issues". In Latin America, some of the important meetings were Latin American Scientific Congresses that met in various capitals: Buenos Aires (1898),
Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
(1901), Rio de Janeiro (1905), and Santiago (1908). North American women participated in International Congresses of Women, including those held in Paris (1878), London (1899), Berlin (1904), Amsterdam (1908) and
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
(1911). U.S. interventionism, which had expanded during the end of the colonial era through World War I, increasingly brought criticism from Latin America and the Caribbean region. In an effort at reconciliation, diplomacy through Inter-American consultation rose and women formed regional networks to find regional solutions as well. Early hemispherical conferences looked for ways and means to improve education for women, provide for children, and promote social welfare programs. The 1922 Pan-American Conference of Women held in Baltimore, addressed those issues as well as peace throughout the region, socio-economic and political opportunities for women, and an end to trafficking of women. The
Inter-American Commission of Women The Inter-American Commission of Women ( es, Comisión Interamericana de Mujeres, pt, Comissão Interamericana de Mulheres, french: Commission interaméricaine des femmes), abbreviated CIM, is an organization that falls within the Organization of ...
was established as part of the Pan-American Movement in 1928. It was the first body solely dedicated to women's issues involving governments of multiple states. One of the first goals set out by the organization was to address disparities in women's legal status in varying countries. Besides the issue of suffrage, women looked at whether their nationality was effected if they married, whether they maintained control of their assets upon marriage, whether they had equal custody over their children, if they could serve on juries, and many other issues. Their regional efforts resulted in passage of the first international agreement, the
Convention on the Nationality of Women Convention on the Nationality of Women was the first international treaty ever adopted concerning women's rights. It was adopted in 1933 by the Pan American Union in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was ratified by delegates from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, ...
, ever adopted to protect women's rights.


Women in the Americas during wartime

In Canada, women were first officially admitted to the military in 1885, where they worked as nurses in the North-West Resistance. During World War I, in the United States, as many men left to fight the war, women took over many jobs. The
Woman's Land Army of America The Woman's Land Army of America (WLAA), later the Woman's Land Army (WLA), was a civilian organization created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLAA w ...
(WLA) helped women take over farming work, especially in California. Canadian women also worked in an organized fashion on home defense during World War I. Women in the United States were unable to join the military officially, but could work as civilian volunteers. In the United States, during World War II, "more than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry" and also contributed to the munitions industry. Women in Canada could join the auxiliary air force and army organizations in 1941 and approximately 50,000 women eventually joined.


Women and culture


Traditional roles

After the European colonization of Canada, women played different traditional roles. Besides household duties, some women participated in the fur trade, the major source of cash in New France. They worked at home alongside their husbands or fathers as merchants, clerks and provisioners. Some were widowed, and took over their husbands' roles. A handful were active entrepreneurs in their own right. Similarly, in the United States, women had more influence in the "domestic" sphere, even though they often worked along with their husbands in colonial society. According to Tuñón Pablos, the women of Mexico had been "exalted in myth" but had remained "subordinated in their (...) role" in Mexican society throughout Mexico's history.


Early leadership roles for women in the Americas

Incan society had the concept of duality in gender parallelism during the pre-Columbian period. This allowed Incan women in the Andes of South America to have assertive roles in society. The country of Peru saw European women from Spain who were early
conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
es and encomenderas between the years of 1534 and 1620. There were at least 102 of these women who were political agents, had access to large amounts of wealth, had been granted hundreds or thousands of Native people to work for them as slaves.


Promoting gender equality for women in the Americas

Many countries in the Americas have provided legal frameworks for women to achieve equality with men. Constitutionally, the modern-day women of the Dominican Republic are equal to men in terms of rights and property ownership. Argentine women have attained a relatively high level of equality by Latin American standards, and in the Global Gender Gap Report prepared by the World Economic Forum in 2009, Argentine women ranked 24th among 134 countries studied in terms of their access to resources and opportunities relative to men. Women in Brazil enjoy the same legal rights and duties as men, which are clearly expressed in the 5th article of Brazil's 1988 Constitution. A cabinet-level office, the Secretariat for Women's Affairs, oversees a special secretariat that has responsibility to ensure the legal rights of women. Although the law prohibits discrimination based on gender in employment and wages, there were significant wage disparities between men and women. Women's educational attainment, workforce participation, and rights have improved, especially since Chile became a democracy again in 1990. Chile legalized divorce in 2004 and is also one of the few countries to have elected a
female president The following is a list of women who have been elected or appointed head of state or government of their respective countries since the interwar period (1918–1939). The first list includes female presidents who are heads of state and may also ...
. According to ''Countries and Their Cultures'', there is a "very high proportion" of
Uruguayan Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
women participating in the labor force of the South American country. And that Uruguayan legislation maintains that the women of Uruguay have equal rights to power, authority, and privileges". In reality however women are still not occupying "higher economic, professional, political, social, and religious positions". In relation to the political arena, UN Women reported that a 2012 study made by the
Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an inter-parliamentary institution, international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and coop ...
(IPU) ranked Uruguay as being "103rd out of 189 countries in terms of representation of women in Parliament" and that "only 12 per cent of the current members of the Chamber of Senators and
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
in Uruguay are women". Culturally, the women of the Dominican Republic have an attitude that is known as ''machista'' behavior, where women understood and to a certain degree accepted the ''machismo'' nature of Dominican Republic men. By tradition, Dominican Republic women are expected to be submissive housewives. Similarly, women in Haiti have equal constitutional rights as men in the economic, political,
cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
and social fields, as well as in the family. However, the reality in Haiti is quite far from the law: "political, economic and social features of Haiti negatively affect most Haitians, but Haitian women experience additional barriers to the full enjoyment of their basic rights due to predominant social beliefs that they are inferior to men and a historical pattern of discrimination and violence against them based on their sex. Discrimination against women is a structural feature in Haitian society and culture that has subsisted throughout its history, both in times of peace and unrest." Gender inequality can be found in various areas of Salvadoran life such as employment, health, education, political participation, and family life. Although women in
El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
enjoy equal protection under the law, they are often at a disadvantage relative to their male counterparts. Honduras's ranking specific to gender inequality is 105th out of 146 countries, with an overall value of 0.511 out of 1 in terms of HDI (with 1 representing perfect inequality). After the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution in which the
Sandinistas The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto Cé ...
led by
Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...
deposed the dictatorial president
Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ''de facto'' ruler of ...
, they implemented a number of social reforms, including trying to eliminate gender inequality and improve female literacy rates. They also encouraged women to participate in the fight for social justice and equality. According to the
Human Development Report The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The first HDR was launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist ...
Office of the United Nations Development Programme, in Bolivia "men receive more and better education than women, receive increased and better health assistance than women, and have the possibility to generate greater income while working less...if we consider that women, as opposed to men, also have...the almost exclusive responsibility for domestic work". Maternal mortality and illiteracy among women rate as some of the highest in the world. Bolivian women are also exposed to excessive machismo, being utilized as promotional tools in popular advertising which solidifies stereotypes and assumptions about women.


Cultural gains

Around the time of the American Revolution, women in the colonies gained greater access to the right to divorce. Women of Afro-Trinidadian mix commonly become "heads of households", thus with acquired "autonomy and power". By participating in Trinidad and Tobago's version of the
Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
, Trinidadian and Tobagonian women demonstrate their "assertive sexuality". Some of them have also been active in so-called Afro-Christian sects and in running the "sou-sou informal rotating credit associations". Polls conducted by
Gallup Gallup may refer to: *Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll *Gallup (surname), a surname *Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States **Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New Me ...
in nine South American countries in 2007 found that attitudes about women's roles in those countries had shifted. Women were seen as being better able to cope with family and work demands than men and 69% of men felt that women should manage a household's money.


Women in government

Women hold 48.9% of the parliamentary seats in the
Cuban National Assembly The National Assembly of People's Power ( es, Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular) is the unicameral parliament of the Republic of Cuba. It is currently composed of 605 representatives who are elected from multi-member electoral districts for a ...
ranking sixth of 162 countries on issues of female participation in political life. Panama had a female president as their national leader, in the person of
Mireya Moscoso Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez de Arias (born July 1, 1946) is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first female president. Born into a rural family, Moscoso became active in t ...
, who was Panama's first female president, serving from 1999 to 2004. Many Brazilian women have been elected mayors and many women have been federal judges. The first female assumed office in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in 1979. Women became candidates for vice president for the first time in 1994. As of 2009, only 9% of the seats in the national parliament were held by women.


Women and the workplace

Women in the Americas have increasingly contributed to the workplace, gaining jobs that were once closed to women. In the book, ''Successful Professional Women in the Americas: From Polar Winds to Tropical Breezes'', the authors identify qualities that women who have succeeded in various professional endeavors in the Americas share alike. These characteristics were "high levels of
self-efficacy In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. The concept was originally proposed by the psychologist Albert Bandura. Self-efficacy affects every area of human endea ...
," "an internal locus of control believing that success results from one's own behaviour" and "a need for achievement and a preference for challenging tasks." In the United States, women have been extremely successful in employment relating to the pre-college and university education of children. Some women in Trinidad and Tobago now excel in occupations such as being microenterprise owners, "lawyers, judges, politicians, civil servants, journalists, and calypsonians". Other women dominate in the fields of "domestic service, sales, and some light manufacturing". The women of the
U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...
are participating increasingly in the fields of economics, business, and politics. Argentine women have an economic clout in relation to men that is higher than in most Latin American countries, and numerous Argentine women hold top posts in the Argentine corporate world; among the best known are Cris Morena, owner of the television production company by the same name,
María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat (August 15, 1921 – February 18, 2012) was an Argentine executive and philanthropist. Life and times María Amalia Sara Lacroze Reyes de Fortabat Pourtal was born in 1921 to Amalia Reyes and Daniel Lacroz ...
, former CEO and majority stakeholder of
Loma Negra Loma Negra Companía Industrial Argentina S.A. is an Argentine manufacturer and the country's leading maker of cement, concrete, and lime. The company, established by businessman Alfredo Fortabat, also founded its own sports club, C.S.yD. Loma N ...
, the nation's largest cement manufacturer, and
Ernestina Herrera de Noble Ernestina Laura Herrera de Noble (7 June 1925 – 14 June 2017) was a prominent Argentine publisher and executive. She was the largest shareholder of the Grupo Clarín media conglomerate and director of the flagship '' Clarín'' newspaper. She ...
, director of Grupo Clarín, the premier media group in Argentina. In some countries, there is more work to be done for there to be equality in the workplace based on gender. In 2009, the female
labor force participation rate Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referenc ...
in El Salvador was 45.9 percent, compared to the male rate of 76.7 percent. Women have also been very influential in labor movements in the Americas. Puerto Rican women became citizens of the U.S.A. in 1917. Before that year – in 1898 – women form Puerto Rico were already active participants in the labor movement and agricultural economy in the island.Introduction, Puerto Rican Labor Movement
/ref> During the period of
industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
, Puerto Rican women took jobs in the so-called "
needle industry Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a ...
", working as seamstresses in garment factories. Many women in the Americas still make a living in subsistence professions. In Bolivia and Brazil, women practice gold mining on a small-scale basis. Many women of Suriname work in the informal sector and in subsistence agriculture. Some women living in French Guiana are from the Maroon society. Although matrilineal in nature, some Maroon women in French Guiana once acted only as assistants or ''basia'' to the ''kabiten'' or male leader. A common job for the Maroon women in French Guiana include cleaning work in coastal areas, particularly in the markets of Saint-Laurent and Cayenne to earn income that would support their children.


Education

Education-wise, women in Guyana have outperformed male Guyanese in regional examinations. There are currently more women in Guyana who attend education in universities than do men. Argentine women enjoy comparable levels of education with men, and somewhat higher school enrollment ratios than their male counterparts. They are well integrated in the nation's cultural and intellectual life. In El Salvador, the percentage of males with at least a secondary education in 2010 was 47.5, compared to females at 40.5 percent.United Nations Development Programme, 2011
/ref>


Feminism

The legal and government institutions that currently exist in Paraguay were developed in part through the efforts of
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
organizations in the country that held significant awareness-raising campaigns during the 1990s to formalize the guarantees of women's rights.


Sexual harassment and violence

During the times when slavery was legal in the Americas, enslaved women were often used as sexual objects and "had no recourse for sexual harm." In Latin America, often those who commit acts of violence against women go "unpunished by legal systems that are ill-equipped to prosecute offenders or that sometimes show little interest in doing so." Violence against women in Guatemala reached severe levels during the long-running Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996), and the continuing impact of that conflict has contributed to the present high levels of violence against women in that nation. The total occurrences of femicide in Guatemala by the end of November 2011 were around 650 women killed; in 2010 the murder rate was 9 per 100,000 women, vice 41 per 100,000 for males.
Claudia Paz y Paz Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey (born 1966) is a criminal law specialist, scholar, judge and litigator who has worked for over 18 years to strengthen the justice system in Guatemala. As the first female Attorney General of Guatemala, from 2010 to 2014, ...
, the attorney general in Guatemala has made violent crimes against women a priority and created a Criminal Court for Crimes of Femicide and Violence against Women. Violence against women has "been prevalent" in Haiti, especially after the
2010 earthquake Earthquakes in 2010 resulted in nearly 165,000 fatalities. Most of these were due to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which caused an estimated 160,000 deaths, making it the 11th deadliest earthquake in recorded history. Other deadly quakes occurred i ...
.


See also


North America

* Women in Canada *
Women in Canadian politics Gender representation has been a significant issue in Canadian politics. The first woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada was Louise McKinney in the 1917 Alberta general election, while the first woman elected to the House of Commons ...
*
Women in Mexico The status of women in Mexico has changed significantly over time. Until the twentieth century, Mexico was an overwhelmingly rural country, with rural women's status defined within the context of the family and local community. With urbanization ...
*
Gender inequality in Mexico Gender inequality in Mexico refers to disparate freedoms in health, education, and economic and political abilities between men and women in Mexico. It has been diminishing throughout history, but continues to persist in many forms including the d ...
* Women in Maya society * Women in Aztec civilization * Women in the United States * Native American women in the arts


Caribbean

* Women in the Caribbean * Women in Cuba * Women in the Dominican Republic *
Women in Haiti Women in Haiti have equal constitutional rights as men in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family. However, the reality in Haiti is quite far from the law: "political, economic and social features of Haiti ...
*
Women in Puerto Rico The recorded history of Puerto Rican women can trace its roots back to the era of the ''Taíno'', the indigenous people of the Caribbean, who inhabited the island that they called "Boriken" before the arrival of Spaniards. During the Spanish ...
*
Women in Trinidad and Tobago Women in Trinidad and Tobago are women who were born in, who live in, or are from Trinidad and Tobago. Depending from which island the women came, they may also be called Trinidadian women or Tobagonian women respectively.Women in the United States Virgin Islands


Central America

* Women in El Salvador * Violence against women in Guatemala * Women in Honduras * Women in Panama


South America

* Women in Argentina *
Women in Bolivia Although the Constitution of Bolivia guarantees equal rights for women and men, women in Bolivia face struggles and discrimination in several aspects of their lives. According to the Human Development Report published by the Office of the United ...
* Women in Brazil *
Women's rights in Brazil Women's societal roles in Brazil have been heavily impacted by the patriarchal traditions of Iberian culture, which holds women subordinate to men in familial and community relationships. The Iberian Peninsula, which is made up of Spain, Portu ...
*
Women in Chile The lives, roles, and rights of women in Chile have gone through many changes over time. Chilean women's societal roles have historically been impacted by traditional gender roles and a patriarchal culture, but throughout the twentieth century, ...
* Women in Colombia * Women's rights in Colombia * Women in Ecuador * Women in French Guiana *
Women in Guyana Women in Guyana are a cross-section of Guyanese society whose numbers have fluctuated with time. A country with primarily Indo-Guyanese, Afro-Guyanese and Amerindian women, Guyana has also been home to women of European or Chinese descent. The c ...
*
Women in Paraguay Women in Paraguay face challenges to their rights. Faced by socioeconomic inequalities and gender pay gap, they experienced significant cultural changes since 1990 as a result of constitutional and legal expansions of women's rights and evolving ...
*
Women in Peru Women in Peru represent a minority in both numbers and legal rights. Although historically somewhat equal to men, after the Spanish conquest the culture in what is now Peru became increasingly patriarchal. The patriarchal culture is still notice ...
*
Women in Suriname Women in Suriname are women who were born in, live in, or are from Suriname. Surinamese women may be ethnically East Indian, Creole/Afro-Surinamese, Javanese, Amerindian, Mixed, or of other ancestry. Many women of Suriname work in the info ...
*
Women in Uruguay Women in Uruguay are women who were born in, who live in, and are from Uruguay. According to ''Countries and Their Cultures'', there is a "very high proportion" of Uruguayan women participating in the labor force of the South American country. Th ...
*
Women in Venezuela Gender equality is established in the constitution of Venezuela and the country is a signatory of the United Nations's Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. However, women in the history of Venezuela have pl ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * and * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * contained in * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Society for the History of Women in the Americas

History of Women in the Americas
(open-access journal) {{South America topic, Women in, titlestyle = background:#FFCBDB People of the Americas