Why did colonialism have devastating consequences for Native American women?

 According to the standard definition of colonialism,” it is defined as the policy of a state looking to expand and maintain the authority over the people of other regions with the sole of becoming economically dominant.”  History has recorded various pieces of evidence of colonialism such as England’s authority over the subcontinent. America was dominated by colonialism at one time and it brought drastic changes in the cultural, traditional, transportation norms of indigenous people. According to (Charles), “The United States colonization is directly responsible for the loss of cultural ties within the indigenous community.” Both men and women experienced many changes in their lifestyles whit the advancement of the new practicing authority. However, Colonialism in America acted as a turnover more for the Native American women as they were metamorphosed into the women they never had been before.  Although colonialism brought several influences for the women, it played its major part through the devastating consequences for the Native American women. Within a short duration, her life changed and took and turnover. It was due to numerous factors making her life miserable in one way or the other. However, the degree of prejudice varied from one to other group and colony to colony.

In the beginning, women did not dare raise their voice for their rights. But as revolts gained momentum, they started holding protests for their various rights. After bearing the devastating consequences for a long time, women felt the need to struggle. They came on the roads asking for their rights and the release of their husbands, fathers, and sons. They demanded a share in the political system and the official posts. Maybe this was the beginning of the new feminist America where women are treated equally with the men.

  It was the time when the Europeans had settle in Native America to form colonies. The Native Americans had quite a complicated relationship with the new settlers and this is evident by many attempts of revolt by the native Americans. (Society). Concerning the Native American women, colonialism brought devastating consequences for them. Women were underestimated in many areas. Regarding their education, most of the women in The New America received only elementary education in history, mathematics, etc. The view of the colonialists was quite opposing to the current feminists. They thought that women ought to play a part in the managing of homes only and they had no critical role to play in the official sectors. Women solely were considered responsible for the nurturing of the children and their homes. They were the subjects who had to obey all the orders of their husbands. No free will was ever bestowed towards them. They were confined to household chores only. Most of the women were still illiterate. The least focus was put on the development of the cognitive skills in the women (Crow).

The colonialists ensured that the women had the least legal rights. Except for the right to take divorce and some limited property rights, they still had no mainstream legal rights. A Native American Woman had no individual official and legal identity.

“A Native woman suffers abuse; this abuse is an attack on her identity as a woman and an attack on her identity as Native”. (Smith)

 In court, her only identification was the name of her husband. She was not allowed to make any will on part of her separate identity. The most astonishing part of the European colonial era is that widows had more rights than married women. They were guaranteed more incentives and facilities as part of the legal rights (Geneviece).

The worst part of colonialism's oppression was the violence practiced on women.  Women were the subjects of prejudice and harassment in critical times. When a woman appeared in front of the court in any case of barbarity and harassment household, she was advised to return to the same household and continue with the same hell again. (Smith) argues that this new brought up of the colonial culture methodically used sexual harassment and violence as a subject to ensure that the native people can be marginalized as much as possible. In this aspect, it can be clearly apprehended that the colonial relationships between the Europeans and the Natives were highly gendered and sexualized. Women were not allowed to choose their spouse for the marriage. Pocahontas, who was the daughter of the chief Powhatan, was a subject of oppression and cruelty. She was abducted by the colonists at the age of 17. The colonist showed aggression towards her and forced to be Christian.  Not only this, she was then married to John Rolfe against her wishes in 1614. Though the marriage itself was a mere show of oppression and prejudice, it was the first interracial marriage to be recorded in American history and it brought brotherhood between the two groups.

In the agricultural sector, they had to do work in very harsh conditions. They had to toil in the field all day under the prickling heat of the sun and were the owners of all the American fields as well as the working tools.  The women were industrious but still perceived as the weakest of all the creatures. Due to this extreme multitasking, there was flattening of the social structure. Women had less time for their children and family. They were expected to work as sedulous and painstaking laborers all day and thwarted with taunts by the male dominants.

Europeans brought many diseases with them into the American territory some of which were fatal as well. The American Natives were unknown to such deadly diseases. This was the time when immunity had been explored to the slightest. With the arrival of such diseases, both Europeans and Americans started to look for possible medications. However, it took a long time, and many lives before treatments were finally discovered. These diseases were the cause of death for the Native American women and a large portion of the women were decimated due to diseases like smallpox, influenza, and measles.

Colonialism brought the toughest phase for slave women. They were considered dogs that wander here and there for food, residency, and respect. It won’t be wrong to say that they had no rights at all. Slave women were expected to compete with the present day multitasking robots by doing various exhausting chores throughout the day.

The Europeans were predominantly Christians. They expected the American Natives to convert to their religion. Native America was a big tree with many cultural and religious branches engraved in various soils. Most of the ancestral groups used to practice ancestral worship. With the agenda of making as many Christians as possible, the European settlers used the tool of aggression and prejudice to propagate their religion. They started inflicting ferociousness over the Native American women forcing them to convert to Christianity and warning them of the unbearable consequences in case the Native Women deny accepting their religion. This barbarity and pressure to accept the new religion brought a cultural and religious conflict in American women.

 The Natives from the very beginning had revolted against the colonialism. They had waged fight and micro wars against the Europeans. The Europeans fought back with triple magnitude. They killed many Native American men and made the married women widows. Moreover, the Native American men were offered the most despicable jobs in the offices and warehouses with the least incomes. (Geneviece) . This further worsened the economic conditions of the Natives and wiped out all the chances of prosperity and opulence.