Editing Matriarchy (section)

==== Native Americans ====
{{Main|Gender roles among the indigenous peoples of North America|Native Americans in the United States#Gender roles}}
[[File:Nampeyo and Family, 1901, Adam Clark Vroman.jpg|thumb|[[Nampeyo]], of the [[Hopi-Tewa]] People, in 1901; with her mother, White Corn; her eldest daughter, Annie Healing holding her granddaughter, Rachel]]
[[File:Girl in the Hopi Reservation.JPG|thumb|Girl in the Hopi Reservation]]
The [[Hopi people|Hopi]] (in what is now the [[Hopi Reservation]] in northeastern [[Arizona]]), according to [[Alice Schlegel]], had as its "gender ideology&nbsp;... one of female superiority, and it operated within a social actuality of sexual equality."<ref>{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|loc=p.&nbsp;44 and see pp.&nbsp;44–52}}</ref> According to LeBow (based on Schlegel's work), in the Hopi, "gender roles&nbsp;... are egalitarian&nbsp;.... [and] [n]either sex is inferior."<ref>{{harvp|LeBow|1984|p=8}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Gender role]], set of norms for a gender in social relationships}} LeBow concluded that Hopi women "participate fully in&nbsp;... political decision-making."<ref>{{harvp|LeBow|1984|p=18}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Haudenosaunee Clan Mother|Clan Mother]]s, elder matriarchs of certain Native American clans, who were typically in charge of appointing tribal chiefs}} According to Schlegel, "the Hopi no longer live as they are described here"<ref name="Schlegelp44n1">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|loc=p.&nbsp;44 n.&nbsp;1}}</ref> and "the attitude of female superiority is fading".<ref name="Schlegelp44n1" /> Schlegel said the Hopi "were and still are matrilineal"<ref name="Schlegelp45">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|p=45}}</ref> and "the household&nbsp;... was matrilocal".<ref name="Schlegelp45" /> Schlegel explains why there was female superiority as that the Hopi believed in "life as the highest good&nbsp;... [with] the female principle&nbsp;... activated in women and in Mother Earth&nbsp;... as its source"<ref name="Schlegelp50" /> and that the Hopi had no need for an army as they did not have rivalries with neighbors.<ref name="Schlegelp49">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|p=49}}</ref> Women were central to institutions of clan and household and predominated "within the economic and social systems (in contrast to male predominance within the political and ceremonial systems)."<ref name="Schlegelp49" /> The Clan Mother, for example, was empowered to overturn land distribution by men if she felt it was unfair<ref name="Schlegelp50">{{harvp|Schlegel|1984|p=50}}</ref> since there was no "countervailing&nbsp;... strongly centralized, male-centered political structure".<ref name="Schlegelp50" />

The [[Iroquois]] Confederacy or League, combining five to six Native American [[Haudenosaunee]] nations or tribes before the U.S. became a nation, operated by [[Great Law of Peace|The Great Binding Law of Peace]], a constitution by which women participated in the League's political decision-making, including deciding whether to proceed to war,<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|pp=498–509}}</ref> through what may have been a matriarchy<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|pp=506–507}}</ref> or gyneocracy.<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|pp=505 & 506}}, quoting Carr, L., ''The Social and Political Position of Women Among the Huron-Iroquois Tribes, Report of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology'', p.&nbsp;223 (1884).</ref> According to Doug George-Kanentiio, in this society, mothers exercise central moral and political roles.<ref name="IroquoisCultureCommentary-p53-p55">George-Kanentiio, Doug, ''Iroquois Culture & Commentary'' (New Mexico: Clear Light Publishers, 2000), pp.&nbsp;53–55.</ref> The dates of this constitution's operation are unknown; the League was formed in approximately 1000–1450, but the constitution was oral until written in about 1880.<ref name="IroquoisGreatLawUSConst-p498">{{harvp|Jacobs|1991|loc=p. 498 & n. 6}}</ref> The League still exists.

George-Kanentiio explains:
<blockquote>
In our society, women are the center of all things. Nature, we believe, has given women the ability to create; therefore it is only natural that women be in positions of power to protect this function....We traced our clans through women; a child born into the world assumed the clan membership of its mother. Our young women were expected to be physically strong....The young women received formal instruction in traditional planting....Since the Iroquois were absolutely dependent upon the crops they grew, whoever controlled this vital activity wielded great power within our communities. It was our belief that since women were the givers of life they naturally regulated the feeding of our people....In all countries, real wealth stems from the control of land and its resources. Our Iroquois philosophers knew this as well as we knew natural law. To us it made sense for women to control the land since they were far more sensitive to the rhythms of the Mother Earth. We did not own the land but were custodians of it. Our women decided any and all issues involving territory, including where a community was to be built and how land was to be used....In our political system, we mandated full equality. Our leaders were selected by a caucus of women before the appointments were subject to popular review....Our traditional governments are composed of an equal number of men and women. The men are chiefs and the women clan-mothers....As leaders, the women closely monitor the actions of the men and retain the right to veto any law they deem inappropriate....Our women not only hold the reins of political and economic power, they also have the right to determine all issues involving the taking of human life. Declarations of war had to be approved by the women, while treaties of peace were subject to their deliberations.<ref name="IroquoisCultureCommentary-p53-p55" /></blockquote>