Indigenous Feminism and Gynocentrism

Native American cultures are continuously seeking to reform their native governments, rights, and sovereignty over their land and their peoples. One important movement that is fighting to reestablish the Native Americans place in this overwhelming Western culture is indigenous feminism. Indigenous feminism is not simply feminism as Westerner's know it. It isn't solely about the rights of women and their elevation to equal status. It's about sovereignty and the political rights of women and even the men within the Native tribes and communities. It's about the equality of Native people's and their rights to function as their own nations within the country that was once theirs. After years of patriarchal oppression, the Native Americans, both female and male, are speaking out and fighting to regain their proper rights.

One issue that is continuously brought to the forefront is the idea of gynocentrism. Gynocentrism is a form of living and a political structure in which the women are the primary caretakers of the tribes and communities. Life is organized in a cyclical, repeating manner that allow for growth without distance. Even in writing, the idea of gynocentrism can be seen. In Paula Gunn Allen's book, The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, Allen seeks to establish the argument's for women, feminism, sovereignty, and gender issues through a cyclical compilation of essays. She constantly allows the essays to double back on issues that had been previously discussed. This method allowed for the reinforcement of ideas and the feeling of community within the book. For example, Allen discusses in the first section of the book, the relationships of women to the tribal mythologies, such as Thought Woman. Throughout the rest of the book, in both the second and third section, the ideas established in the first section are referred back to and expanded upon. Though this may seem redundant at times, it creates an identity within the text that allows the reader to open their minds and absorb and consider the new ideas. For non-Native readers, Sacred Hoop is an opportunity to view another culture from inside the culture's ideals and structure. In the fight for rights, freedom from oppression, and the reestablishment of the old ways, Allen's book offers a prime example of how gynocentrism functions within the ideas of indigenous feminism. Indigenous feminism brings our attention to the rights and both the women within Native cultures and the rights of the cultures themselves and gynocentrism is the idea that is struggling to be regained. It's the cultural ideal that brings women back into the main circle of political and equal life, while also bringing forth the idea of a structure that allows the tribes and communities to function, prosper, remember, and grow.