Indigenous women at the front of a continental struggle

by Krystofer Penner | Published 16th March 2013 in Ways of Seeing

In this article from Briarpatch Magazine, Jennifer Kennedy introduces us to Indigenous women from Central America to northern Alberta who are leaders both in their communities and at the national level.

Indigenous women are moving past the gender inequality and violence that came from colonialism and taking back their former positions as important leaders in their communities.

According to Eriel Deranger, a young Dëne Sųłiné from northern Alberta, “a lot of [communities] were matriarchal or had very even-keeled structures of governance that were basically torn apart, ripped out. They were force-fed these colonial structures that really disempowered women as contributing members of society.”