Women’s Rights and Indigenous Women’s Rights in North America
Victims of racism and discrimination based on both gender and Indigenous heritage, many women struggle to have their human rights fully exercised. This is especially true for indigenous women in North America, who face the highest rates of violence against all other groups of women.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz points to weaknesses in monitoring systems and the lack of disaggregated data for Indigenous peoples as key challenges.
1. Economic Empowerment
Women are breadwinners, caretakers and cultural leaders. They have a right to participate fully in economic growth that recognises their contributions and respects their dignity.
Investing in women’s economic empowerment is a direct path to gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Yet women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation. They often lack access to financial services and employment opportunities, and are disproportionately burdened with unpaid work at home.
NWAC is committed to addressing these inequalities by promoting the re-establishment of traditional roles for Aboriginal women, including in governance structures and decision-making processes. This will require training programs and a commitment to empowering women. Ultimately, it will help address the ongoing and pervasive mistreatment of Aboriginal women.
2. Education
‘As breadwinners, caretakers and human rights defenders, Indigenous women are particularly vulnerable to multiple forms of discrimination. They experience economic hardship, lack access to education and healthcare, suffer domestic and sexual violence and are excluded from decision making.
Those who seek help for abuse often receive counselling that emphasises leaving their abusive partner, rather than keeping them in the family and healing within the home community. This approach has failed many Aboriginal women and contributes to the cycle of abuse.
Despite this, many studies of Indigenous adult learning begin from a deficit perspective, labelling women as ‘vulnerable’ and target them for national policies and global goals that impose external notions of’sustainable development’ and quality education and training. The papers in this Special Issue challenge this deficit approach, using an ethnographic and participatory lens that recognises voice, ownership of knowledge and ethics in research with Indigenous peoples.
3. Health
Indigenous women are leaders in their communities, preserving traditional knowledge and bringing strength to their communities. However, many of these women move to urban centres as a result of family or community problems, leaving behind their families and traditional ways of life.
In this context, health is a vital right and can be used to promote women’s self-determination. This is why it’s critical to fully recognize and exercise the rights of indigenous peoples to their communal lands, territories, resources, and self-determination.
IHRC recommends that States protect indigenous women by implementing measures that address high rates of poverty, lack of access to education, work, healthcare and basic necessities. IHRC also recommends that States support the role of traditional midwives who can act as cultural brokers between healthcare systems and indigenous values, norms and world views.
4. Cultural Preservation
As custodians of their lands and natural resources, indigenous women play an important role in the preservation of their cultural heritage. They are often the guardians of traditional ancestral knowledge including scientific, medicinal and spiritual practices.
Indigenous women are disproportionately affected when the natural resources they steward are exploited without their free, prior and informed consent. They are also impacted when they cannot access and pass on their knowledge to future generations.
This includes efforts to preserve and promote indigenous languages, as well as creating an environment that encourages individuals and communities, especially indigenous women, to develop, apply and transmit their own cultural expressions. In Timor Leste, for example, the mandate has observed indigenous women-led initiatives that have expanded mangrove forests to prevent salination and restored groundwater.
5. Legal Rights
The recent women’s rights movements have brought to light the ugly reality that many women around the world face: discrimination, hatred and violence. This is even more prevalent for indigenous women, who face many layers of vulnerability due to their gender and native heritage.
These violations of human rights occur both in their communities and in the justice system. For example, demeaning images of Aboriginal women in school textbooks facilitate sexism and violence against them, and in some cases, lead to Aboriginal women becoming victims of rape.
IWGIA’s written submission to CEDAW emphasized that all future international law developments concerning indigenous peoples and their rights must take into account the multifaceted identity of Indigenous women and their intersectional experience. This includes recognition of their rights to self-determination; territories and natural resources; culture; and a clean environment.