Feminist Nations? A Study of Native American Women in Southwestern Tribal Politics

• Published date: 01 March 2004
• Date: 01 March 2004
• DOI: 10.1177/106591290405700108
• Author: Diane-Michele Prindeville
• Subject Matter: Articles

As their presence in tribal politics has grown, the role

and influence of American Indian women has

increasingly gained prominence in the governance

of Indian nations. This is particularly evident in the South-

western United States where Apache, Shoshone, Paiute, and

Navajo women, for example, hold key policymaking posi-

tions within their nations’ executive, legislative, and judicial

branches. At the same time, however, the majority of the 20

Pueblo nations prohibit women from participating in tribal

politics. Despite their common status as sovereign nations

and domestic dep endents of the fe deral govern m e n t ,

tremendous variation exists among the forms of governance

and political practices of Indian nations in the United States.

This study explores the role of Southwestern Native

American women leaders in tribal governance and women’s

rights to participate in tribal politics. Using data from per-

sonal interviews with officials from 21 Indian nations in Ari-

zona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah I address the follow-

ing research questions:

What are the characteristics of women in tribal leader-

ship?

What role do these leaders play in tribal politics? Why do

they participate?

What are their political goals? What are their policy pri-

orities?

What sorts of constraints to participation do women face?

What institutional or social conditions enable women to

hold formal positions of political leadership within

their tribes?

By studying the political participation of American Indian

women leaders we can gain a greater understanding of their

political goals, their contributions to their communities, and

the conditions that lead to women’s equal and legitimate

involvement in tribal politics. We now examine the literature

on women in Native American politics, followed by a brief

h i s t o ry of their role in native societies in the Southwest.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A growing body of research on women of color has

added important knowledge to the literature on Native

American women and politics. American Indian women

have a rich history of political involvement in the life of

their communities. Their struggle for policy reforms to

attain tribal sovereignty, cultural preservation, and control

over their native lands and natural resources, however, are

unique to their status as colonized indigenous peoples. His-

torically, leaders such as Sarah Winnemucca, Alice Brown

Davis, and Gertrude Bonnin have challenged federal, state,

and tribal authorities to formulate and/or reform policy for

the benefit of their peoples (Ford 1990; Jaimes 1992;

Jaimes-Guerrero 1997b). Since the 1970s, an increasing

number of w omen have held a variety of elected or

appointed positions in their tribal governments. The transi-

tion of some leaders from community activist to tribal offi-

cial has been documented among the Salt River Pima and

Maricopa (Hoikkala 1995) and the Seminoles (Kersey and

Banaan 1995) as well as among several New Mexico tribes

(Prindeville 2000). In some Indian nations women are being

elected as chief executive officers where they serve as Chair,

President, or Governor of the Tribal Council or Tribal Busi-

ness Council. Women have also been appointed or elected

to Vice-Chair, Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer of their

tribe. Native women’s leadership is frequently in the legislative

101

Feminist Nations? A Study of Native American Women

in Southwestern Tribal Politics

DIANE-MICHELE PRINDEVILLE, NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY

Tremendous variation exists in the politics and gover nance of the over 550 federally recognized American

Indian tribes. For example, women are barred from participating in tribal politics in most Pueblo Nations, yet

in other Southwestern tribes, they are political leaders. Using data from personal interviews with officials from

21 Indian Nations in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah, I examine the role that they, as women, play

in tribal politics; why they participate; the positions they hold; the constraints they face; their political goals,

policy priorities, and strategies; and the institutional and social conditions that enable women to serve in their

tribe’s political leadership. The findings reveal substantial diversity among the Southwestern Indian Nations

studied, yet considerable similarities exist among the leaders’ paths to leadership, policy priorities, and polit-

ical goals in tribal government.

NOTE: This article was delivered at the 2002 Western Political Science

Association meeting in Long Beach, CA under the title “Feminist

Nations? A Study of Native American Women in Tribal Politics.” It

received the 2003 Charles Redd Award for Best Paper on the Pol-

itics of the American West. Funding for this project was provided

by a grant from the Center for American Women and Politics, Rut-

gers University. Special thanks to research assistants Noreen Green

McKechnie and Vanessa Quiroz.

The editors of Political Research Quarterly thank the members of the Redd

Award Committee for their work in selecting this article.

Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 1 (March 2004): pp. 101-112