Copyright Inter Press Service 1991, all rights reserved. Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.
Area: Europe, eastern
Reference: North America
Title: CANADA: AMERINDIAN WOMEN DENOUNCE DISCRIMINATION BY THEIR MEN
hull, quebec (ips/ lyng-hou ramirez) -- indigenous women of the
americas are saying a loud ''no'' to the domination and
discrimination to which they are subjected by their menfolk.
women of all ages from 22 countries of the americas analsying
their situation within traditional social, cultural and political
frameworks established by european colonisers at the first
conference of indigenous nations of the americas pointed on the
additional load they bear as female members of their societies.
their linguistic differences, seen by some as an obstacle to a
smooth flow of ideas at the nov. 11-13 conference organised by
the ''indigenous woman 500'' committee of canada, did not prevent
the women from exchanging personal and community experiences.
not least among these experiences is the struggle to regain
the leadership position women once enjoyed in amerindian
societies.
''before the arrival of the colonisers, our society was
eminently matriarchal. women always had the last word in the
assemblies. their word was as sacred as the earth,'' the
coordinator of the women and indigenous education group of
brazil, elaine potiguara explained.
colonisation forced the indigenous woman to devalue her
traditional role and submit her authority in reaction to slavery,
sexual abuse and death, she said.
however, the hardest blow is discovering that the men of their
ethnic groups have now absorbed the values of domination and
discrimination against women and apply them even in the home,
passing them on to future generations.
as a result, the possibility of preserving the waning
indigenous traditions is becoming increasingly more remote.
potiguara's opinions were echoed by indigenous north americans
like pauline busch, a manitoba indian from canada, who said the
imposition of negative canons in their society was forcing many
manitoba women to abandon their husbands.
she said the women of this canadian ethnic group have reacted
in the last few decades to the oppression which prevents them
from gaining education and living according to their ancestral
customs. this oppression, she said, stems from the struggle waged
by the men to survive in the world of the ''white man''.
this has given rise to a form of colonisation which is more
cruel because it is suffered at the hands of ''the man we have
borne, the one we love,'' she said. (more/ips)
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canada: amerindian (2)
busch said that canada's native women, united in the
indigenous women's council, were working at restoring to the role
of women the value it once had in manitoba, inuit (eskimo),
ojibway and mohawk communities as well as other ethnic groups
which are going through the same process.
representing the wayuu indians of the gulf of venezuela, noeli
pocaterra explained that the economic and political dominance of
women in her community has been replaced by a breakdown in moral
values, partly under the influence of so-called modern education.
the western educational model, which separates boys and girls
from their families for long hours each day, broke the wayuu
custom of training women to head families and determine the
course of inter-tribal relations, she pointed out.
''now we are like beheaded hens'', pocaterra said, explaining
that while, in the olden days, a girl's first menstruation marked
a moment of joy, education and preparation for adulthood,
nowadays it has become a mere signal for the men that she is
''ready for the taking''.
struggles against discrimination and male abuse in their
communities is for wayuu women like pocaterra a painful
experience, added to which are the illnesses, malnutrition and
illiteracy which prevail among venezuela's amerinidians.
the conference's themes include political rights,
environmental protection and the participation of women in
economic processes.
a second meeting is scheduled for mexico in 1992.
(end/ips/pr/lr/ls/kb)