Women in the Americas are women who were born in, who live in, and are from the Americas, a regional area which encompasses the Caribbean region, Central America or Middle America, North America 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, Central America, the Caribbean 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 of Paleoindians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Beringia 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 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.), 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, 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 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 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 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, 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 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, 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' 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 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 ("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 were hired by the Virginia Company to help establish the colony. With the establishment of settlements, the Atlantic slave trade 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