Editing Pawnee people (section)

===Political structure===
[[File:George Catlin - La-dóo-ke-a, Buffalo Bull, a Grand Pawnee Warrior - 1985.66.100 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|thumb|Pawnee warrior, painting by [[George Catlin]], 1832]]
The Pawnee are a [[matrilineal]] people. Ancestral descent is traced through the mother, and children are considered born into the mother's clan and are part of her people. In the past, a young couple moved into the bride's parents' lodge. People work together in collaborative ways, marked by both independence and cooperation, without coercion. Both women and men are active in political life, with independent decision-making responsibilities.

Within the lodge, each north–south section had areas marked by activities of the three classes of women:
*Mature women (usually married and mothers), who did most of the labor;
*Young single women, just learning their responsibilities; and
*Older women, who looked after the young children.

Among the collection of lodges, the political designations for men were essentially between:
*the Warrior Clique; and
*the Hunting Clique.

Women tended to be responsible for decisions about resource allocation, trade, and inter-lodge social negotiations. Men were responsible for decisions which pertained to hunting, war, and spiritual/health issues.

Women tended to remain within a single lodge, while men would typically move between lodges. They took multiple sexual partners in serially monogamous relationships.