Anishinaabekwewag - Anishinaabe Women
For Anishinaabeg, women aren’t just valued for a singular outcome of their labour or physical embodiment. In other words, it would be too simplistic to state that Anishinaabe women are revered for their ability to give birth, or for their role in raising children, or for their spiritual proximity to the cycles of life. As Red Lake Anishinaabeg scholar Brenda Child writes, Anishinaabe women come from a “society that valued an entire system of beliefs associated with women’s work, not just the product of their labour”. In other words, Anishinaabe aadziwin–as a worldview and way of life–is founded on feminine empowerment.
This point is important to remember when we look back on the original roles of kwewag (women), and in particular, the roles of Gookmisag Miinwaa Zigosag in our Anishinaabe governance orders. Anishinaabe nendomowin, or the mindset and worldview of Anishinaabeg, holds that the earth’s energy and spiritual force is feminine in nature. This is a foundational fact in Anishinaabeg social order and natural law: the physical world as we know it, and therefore our livelihood, emerges from this generative feminine force of life-production. Women are understood to be human extensions of that sacred power, and thus are revered for being the physical and spiritual embodiment of this natural law. The rites of Anishinaabe femininity throughout the life stages are instructive for a person’s life-long journey through harnessing the power to generate life (for women) and the responsibility to care for it (for men). - Eva Jewel
As the Serpent River Community Story says, Anishinaabekwewag have a deep connection to the waters that surround their communities. This connection is based in an understanding of their profound dependence on niibi as a relation.
The relationship between water and women is profound, and it is important for Serpent River because it is pretty much surrounded by water. You need water to survive; we honour the water. Everything we do in life involves water. Women are the caretakers of water and this role needs to be understood, honoured and practiced for a sustainable environment and future.
Anishinaabekwewag also hold responsibilities to protect their families and communities from harms that may come from the water. The responsibilities Anishinaabekwewag hold towards water are rooted in their experience of water as “a sentient being capable of retaining memory and transferring knowledge. Specifically, the water in which a woman carries her child during pregnancy is likened to the water that sustains us in our life on earth.
Niibi or water also holds an important historical role in Anishinaabe adziwin. Mary Deleary wrote that,
In that water, is the memory of everything that was said; all of what was given for the clans to carry and do is in the water, because water holds our memory. And how is a new human being formed? It’s formed through water. Carried in the water. All of the memory is what [kwe] are responsible for. The memory to ensure the transmission to the next generation, just like in that beginning time for the clans when they gathered around that great lake of water together. And all of that was put forward. From that time forward, [clan knowledge] is carried in the water and given to woman to hold the memory of.
Women’s roles as holders of memory are reflected in their knowledge of relationships, kinships, and families that are integral to the strength and governance of the dodemiwan itself. Older women held responsibilities as the ultimate guardians of kinship by ensuring that marriages did not occur between those who were related and ensuring that future generations were aware of and grounded in their obligations to kin, including those who had passed on. Grandmas and Aunties have always gathered. As long as there have been Anishinaabeg, there have been kwewag (women) visiting, sharing, making knowledge, and keeping the memories.
The connection between Anishinaabekwewag and niibi is reinforced through the process of childbirth and the breastfeeding that follows. Breastfeeding holds important teachings around treaty-making. The importance of breastfeeding is also reflected in Anishinaabe oral histories. The mother of Nanaboozhoo, the Anishinaabe trickster, is named “Wenonah” or the first breast feeder:
Before there were humans on earth, a female spirit being came to the earth. Her name was Wenonah, which means the first breast feeder - nonah is to breastfeed; we is the “one who.” Wenonah took the responsibility of creating humans on earth. She came to earth, and with struggle, eventually created humans. Nishnaabeg people are her descendants. We exist today because she united with w-bng-ishmog (the west wind) and created the first humans. She created and then nourished us by nursing us. When women breastfeed they are aligning themselves with this sacred story. Engaging in the act of creating a new life. Breastfeeding was so important in this Creation Story that Wenonah carries it as her name. To me, this means that as a people, Nishnaabeg have a great deal to learn by being breastfed, by breastfeeding, and by supporting and honouring breastfeeding women.
Breastfeeding supports a child’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing, providing nourishment, and connection not only to their mother but to niibi and the wider environment and web of relationships that support them. Characteristics, strengths, and a sense of respect were thought to be passed to infants through mothers’ milk. Breast milk has medicinal value and can be used to treat eye and ear infections in the newborn.
Also, older women in particular were largely responsible for the day-to-day health care in communities. Midwives hold important roles providing care and teachings for young parents and families. Midwives had lifelong relationships with the babies they delivered, and they had various ways of celebrating and honouring those relationships. New mothers also received support and acknowledgement from the other women in the community which helped to facilitate their transition into parenthood.
Leanne Simpson describes how the family is the basis for the nation, the space where children first begin to learn about governance, and where they are taught to become future leaders and community members. At the time of contact, Anishinaabe had been making treaties with animal nations and with other Indigenous Nations for generations. Like our other political traditions, the family was the teaching ground for these understandings, with women carrying the responsibility for first sharing these teachings with the youngest citizens.
As Anishinaabekwewag age, their responsibilities and authority within their families and communities changes and grows. As Brenda Child writes, “Mindimooyenh, the Ojibwe term for a female elder, best embodies how Ojibwe society has traditionally perceived women’s power. In the Ojibwe language, it literally refers to “one who holds things together”, honouring the pivotal role occupied by mature women in the community.
Historically, they took on roles within the women’s council. During gatherings, women met in councils to discuss issues of importance with one woman, an ogimaakwe, or chief woman, presenting the results of the women’s council findings to the men. In some cases, Anishinaabekwewag held the role of Ogimaakwe, or community leader. Earl Commanda, former Chief of Serpent River describes how the strength of the women in his community and their practices of governance and community-building helped to protect and maintain the wellbeing of the community.
I realize that this community had an awful lot of strong women. And I look at former Chief Bill Meawasige and his wife; like, I mentioned she used to be the secretary. But one of the things they fought hardest was the closing of our band-operated school. And so, rather than close it entirely, they kept some of the younger grades at least at home. They felt, you know, they weren't quite ready yet to sort of be integrated. And, even to this day, I think it’s quite a difficult task for Junior Kindergarten to put on a bus to drive over half an hour to go to school, and spend all day there, and then you’ve got to come home. And so, they got the chiefs to sort of protest that. And I know my father was on council at the time, and some of the other Elders there. And I read an article about that, and it really reinforced that thought about those strong women who supported...trying to maintain the old way of the community.
This view of Anishinaabekwewag as community leaders and upholders of Anishinaabe aadziwin is supported by Jeannette Dorothy Blanche Jocko Commanda and Joyce Dillen of Serpent River. Joyce Dillen explains that the men following the women is “the way it’s supposed to be.” As Jeannette Dorothy Blanche Jocko Commanda says that’s the way it’s supposed to be, it just is. There’s no written law, there’s no one thing like that, it’s just the way it’s supposed to be. We have to get that back on many levels, but “we’re working on it”. Mike Bisson of Mississauga echoes this sentiment, saying that the taking back of authority by Anishinaabekwewag in North Shore nations is central to the restoration of Anishinaabe governance.
And we’re getting stronger in our voice, and we tell this to all our communities, “Your women, in your community, are the centre of your home, your family, your community.” I mean, “The women have to sound their voice. Us men are the outer circle, and we’ll hear you, and we will do that, what you ask of us.” We are a [matriarchic] society. It’s our grandmother who’s the head of our family because Grandma makes decisions; because, if you go and ask Grandpa, he’s going to say, “Go and ask your Grandma.