WUNRN
INDIGENOUS WOMEN & GIRLS
CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Photo still from video, "Mujeres Indigenas para Radio
Comunitaria" by Lara Hidalgo, taken during a march for women's rights on
International Women's Day, in
Today, March 8th is International Women's Day, first celebrated
by the United Nations in 1975. Today is an opportunity to celebrate our
mothers, nieces, sisters, and daughters, and all the contributions that women
have made since the beginning of time. Indigenous women across the globe are
the keepers of knowledge essential for the survival and sustainability of our
planet.
In the spirit of the historical value of International Women’s
Day, it is also important to understand the struggles Indigenous women face. In
its third session report in 2004, the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Peoples Issues (UNPFII) recognized that, “Indigenous women
throughout the world are among the most marginalized groups, suffering
discrimination not only on the basis of gender but on the basis of race,
culture, and class. The complex interaction of the combined factors of
colonization, the spread of western-style capitalism, globalization,
nationalism, and top-down and paternalistic approaches to development have
provided a social and economic environment whereby indigenous women have
suffered from the effects of poverty, the breakdown of traditional social
mechanisms and institutions, violence and militarization, dislocation and
migration, and the depletion (or expulsion from) their natural
environments."
Gender based violence and gender discrimination is an everyday reality for many
Indigenous women. A 1999 study of the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that
Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually
violated than women in the
While these examples paint the gravity of the challenges
Indigenous women face, it can also be said that the spirits of Indigenous women
remain unbreakable. One of the many things Indigenous women have taught us is
that where there is struggle, there is strength, and where there is
persecution, there is endurance. While many Indigenous women have
historically been deprived of their ancestral lands and environments, the UNPFII has recognized that “Indigenous women and the
environment are vitally interlinked and must be incorporated into policy
planning.” While Indigenous women are more likely to be robbed of their lands
and languages, there are many Indigenous women like jessie
little doe Baird and her
language apprentices from the Wampanoag Nation of southeastern
Massachusetts, who are revitalizing threatened languages. And while Indigenous
women often lack political representation, there are increasing numbers of
Indigenous women serving as local, regional, and national representatives as in
Peru and Venezuela where Indigenous women have been elected members of their
national parliaments.
The story of
Gloria Ushigua and the Zápara people of the Pastaza region of the Amazon
between