Editing Cherokee (section)

=== Gender roles ===
Men and women have historically played important yet, at times, different roles in Cherokee society. Historically, women have primarily been the heads of households, owning the home and the land, farmers of the family's land, and "mothers" of the [[clan]]s. As in many [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] cultures, Cherokee women are honored as life-givers.<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|1954047274}} |last1=Mize |first1=Jamie Myers |year=2017 |title=Sons of Selu: Masculinity and Gendered Power in Cherokee Society, 1775–1846 }}</ref> As givers and nurturers of life via childbirth and the growing of plants, and community leaders as clan mothers, women are traditionally community leaders in Cherokee communities. Some have served as warriors, both historically and in contemporary culture in military service. Cherokee women are regarded as tradition-keepers and responsible for cultural preservation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Connell-Szasz |first1=Margaret |last2=Perdue |first2=Theda |title=Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835 |journal=The American Historical Review |date=December 1999 |volume=104 |issue=5 |pages=1659 |doi=10.2307/2649389 |jstor=2649389 }}</ref>

The redefining of gender roles in [[Cherokee Nation|Cherokee]] society first occurred in the time period between 1776 and 1835.<ref name=Paulk-Kribel>{{Cite journal|last=Paulk-Kriebel|first=Virginia Beth|date=1999|title=Review of Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835|journal=The North Carolina Historical Review|volume=76|issue=1|pages=118–119 |jstor=23522191 }}</ref> This period is demarcated by the [[Hernando de Soto#De Soto's exploration of North America|De Soto exploration]] and subsequent invasion, was followed by the American Revolution in 1776, and culminated with the signing of [[Treaty of New Echota]] in 1835. The purpose of this redefinition was to push European social standards and norms on the [[Cherokee Nation|Cherokee]] people.<ref name=Paulk-Kribel/> The long-lasting effect of these practices reorganized Cherokee forms of government towards a male-dominated society which has affected the nation for generations.<ref name=Miles>{{Cite book|title=The house on Diamond Hill : a Cherokee plantation story|last=Miles, Tiya, 1970-|date=2010|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807834183|location=Chapel Hill|oclc=495475390|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/houseondiamondhi00mile}}</ref> Miles argues white agents were mainly responsible for the shifting of [[Cherokee Nation|Cherokee]] attitudes toward women's role in politics and domestic spaces.<ref name=Miles/> These "white agents" could be identified as [[Missionary|white missionaries]] and white [[settler]]s seeking out "[[manifest destiny]]".<ref name=Miles/>  By the time of removal in the mid-1830s, Cherokee men and women had begun to fulfill different roles and expectations as defined by the "civilization" program promoted by US presidents [[George Washington|Washington]] and [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]].<ref name=Paulk-Kribel/>

{{Cite check|reason=Cited text does not draw the conclusions in this paragraph.|section|date=December 2023}}
While there is a record of a non-Native traveler in 1825 noticing what he considered to be "men who assumed the dress and performed the duties of women", this observer was unfamiliar with how the Natives in that region dressed. There is no evidence of what would now be considered "[[two-spirit]]" individuals in Cherokee society; this is generally the case in matriarchal and matrilineal cultures, as [[third gender]] roles are usually found in [[patriarchal]] societies and cultures with more rigid gender roles.<ref name=Smithers>{{cite journal |last1=Smithers |first1=Gregory D. |title=Cherokee 'Two Spirits': Gender, Ritual, and Spirituality in the Native South |journal=Early American Studies |date=2014 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=626–651 |doi=10.1353/eam.2014.0023 |id={{Project MUSE|552419}} {{ProQuest|1553321291}} |jstor=24474873 |s2cid=143654806 }}</ref>