Women and Native Americans for the Period from 1492 1867 in America Essay

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Lack of Freedoms and Limited Opportunities of Women and Native Americans for the Period from 1492-1867 in America

Introduction

The year 1492 counts as the starts of colonization in America. This is when Columbus sailed into the new-found land with three of his ships i.e. Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta. Native Americans impressed him with their kindness but he resulted to abusing them instead of showing the same kindness (Snyder, 2017). The king and queen Ferinand and Isabella were not impressed with the manner in which Columbia was treating the Native Americans (Marilley, 2014). The King and Queen force Columbus to go back to Spain. After this, in the year 1583, another group went into a small Island known as Roanoke with an objective of colonizing it. Roanoke Island one of the Americas Islands. This group was not successful in their colonization mission. Another group was sent in 1587 to try a second time. The missions led to emigration into America therefore giving Native Americans challenge after challenge. The entry of many groups caused many wars in this region therefore affecting the Natives. This discourse attempts to analyze the effect that these activities had on women’s freedom between the year 1492 and 1867. In a similar manner the essay investigates the lack of opportunities for women during this same period. The positive impact for Native Americans from the activities of this period is also examined. Finally, the paper discusses the colonization consequences for Native Americans.

Limited opportunities and freedoms for Women

The history of women during this period is quite scanty on the available documents. The women mentioned are mostly mothers, wives and the women associated with protagonists from America and Europe (McDonagh, 2018). Very few people have heard of Isabel Chimpu Occlo, a princess and a daughter of Atahualpa Tupac, the last of the great emperors of Inca. This woman was a great and pioneer of the successful mestizo writers who existed at the time (Snyder, 2017). Some people might be aware of Malinche. She used to be an interpreter from the Aztecs language to Spanish. At the end of it she fell in love with Hernan Cortez. She was later accused of betrayal for her people to the Mexican conquistador. Most people seem to forget that Dona Marina or Malinche was in fact from the Maya community. The Maya were conquered over brutally by the Aztecs (Camp, 2004). Available evidence about women involvement during the history of colonization suggests that Maya people were considered victims of the occurrences.

The doctrine of common law was one of the laws in the pre-colonial period before 1492. This law prevented women from being empowered. The law stated that men were given full control and dominance over women, their property and their money (McDonagh, 2018). An example of the consequence of this law is that any poor man was capable of sending his children into a poorhouse without consulting the wife. The woman had no say on the matter.

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During divorce the man had the privilege of keeping everything including property and children. According to the common law women were not to get any education save for the educational preparation in medical practice (Buhle, Murphy & Gerhard, 2009). As a consequence, women got many children. This prevented them from ever developing themselves professionally. If a situation occurred where a woman killed the husband this would be considered a homicide. To the contrary if a man did the same thing the man would only be said to be possess some ‘passion shooting’ (Marilley, 2014). Such events were quite detrimental to the efforts of women who wanted to push for equality. It was necessary to change the perception in if equity was ever to be achieved.

In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries women had to contend with a system that was excessively patriarchal. This system was adamant about not giving women any say. Political and cultural occurrences during the centuries caused a growth of attention towards the issues of women. For instance, educational reforms allowed more women to become enlightened therefore making it possible for them to voice their views about injustices (McDonagh, 2018). The feminism mentality today was not there during this time. Women had to fight for themselves and express their situations through some creative and at times subversive mean.

There was a certain social structure that existed between 1492 and 1545 in America. This social structure diminished any opportunities to get women involved. Women were only afforded the opportunity to serve their families. It was generally expected that women would focus on their domestic activities and duties for the sake of making the family and their husbands better (Marilley, 2014). More often than not women education was not a priority. It was viewed as a detrimental initiative that would make traditional women virtues of morality and innocence go away. Any woman who voiced their opinion in opposition of the patriarchal attitudes or the existing injustices was threatened with exile from the community or even something worse. The unmarried women who were vocal were mostly faced with this witch hunt threat.

Women in America had no permission to take part in any religious studies. Low class citizens got access to the bible from 1705. The study of religion was strictly used for personal introspection and women were not allowed to take part. From 1705 women could use religion as an avenue to express their sentiments and ideas (Buhle, Murphy & Gerhard, 2009). Over and above the religion, women were able to express their sentiments through private autobiographies and letters.

The 1678 era did not bring and drastic changes in women conditions or status. During this year women played an important role in the political and economic spectrum through the domestic activities they took part in (Marilley, 2014). Women were counselors in their homes and they moderated the actions and words of their husbands. Even though women.....

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