Inspiration for Women

How our Great Lakes area inspired  women’s rights for the world.

Women's rights can be directly tracked back to the Iroquois Confederacy; this influence travelled all over the world. It’s well documented that early suffragettes were good friends with many Iroquois women and were influenced by them, because Iroquois women ran their matriarchal society. 
Women in England gained the right to vote just before World War I, and the United States shortly after World War I. Susan Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Matilda Gage, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Stanton were the early suffragettes, and they all paid homage to Iroquois women. Matilda Gage said, “Under Iroquois women the science of government reached the highest form known to the world.” Even twenty-first century women today would find the rights of the female in Iroquois society 500 to 800 years ago to be unparalleled.

First reading

Both readings are excepts from Dave Patterson’s book, “500 Years of Lies: Discover the Extraordinary Number of Native Indian Gifts to the World”

Iroquois women were the landowners and the farmers. In most WH Indigenous philosophies, women were the ones who gave life to humans, so they were, in turn, the ones in charge of giving life from the earth. 75% of the foods grown in the world today were gifts from the Americas. When we look at these provisions being cultivated on Indigenous farms, we realize there were a lot of women developing foods on those farms.

• Dave Patterson

Second Reading

Iroquois women nominated the chiefs and they could also have them kicked out of office. This is another thing that scared the people operating the noble systems in Europe. The Indians could actually remove someone from office, and the women played a large part in these decisions.

• Dave Patterson