A Dynamic Balance: Roles of Women and Men

"I don't think women ever used to draw designs in the old days, just men. That's why I was scared when I started painting the canoe."
— Florence Edenshaw Davidson, Haida artist

Historically, Native Northwest Coast men and women had clearly defined roles. Although men hunted, fished, made war and held most chiefly offices, women often had fundamental economic control. Tlingit women, for example, were the keepers and distributors of all food and material wealth and had a pivotal role in the inheritance of privileges. Today women still control family finances and often have year-round employment as well.

In the past, the arts too were divided by gender. Creating images of crest animals was exclusively men's work. But in recent decades, more and more women have been carving, painting and making jewelry. Women today carry on a long tradition of weaving cedar bark and spruce root into baskets, hats and garments-some ultimately featuring crest figures painted by men.