Food and Agriculture

• Native American women were responsible for the majority of the food. While Native American men were responsible for hunting and providing meat, though sometimes the women hunted as well, most of the calories the tribes consumed actually came from nonmeat sources, which were managed by the women. Accordingly, Native American women made decisions about when and how to plant crops as well as what would be eaten. Women planted, tended, harvested fields and gathered roots, herbs and berries. They processed the crops, ground some foods into flour and then prepared and cooked all the food.
  
  

Home

• Women were in charge of building and repairing homes as well as providing for them. In some regions, home building included preparing bark and wooden frames while in others it included preparing skins and wooden frames. Native American women also provisioned homes with water, firewood and other essentials. Women were the caretakers of land and homes. They also were expected to defend the home if needed. In fact, in some tribes, women owned the wealth, property and political power, which were passed through the female lines.
  
  

Clothing and Supplies

• Native American women were responsible for clothing and equipping the family and household. Women skinned the animals hunted by the men, tanned hides, made sinew thread and sewed the family's clothes. They sometimes embroidered and decorated the clothes with feathers and beads as well. Native American women made moccasins, tools, weapons, baskets, jewelry, blankets, pottery, medicines and all the other supplies needed for daily living.
  
  

Caregiving

• In Native American tribes, women were viewed as life givers. They bore, cared for and taught skills to their children. Women made dolls for female children. Men made the male children's toys. Native American women cared for the elderly and the sick. In addition, women served as barbers and shaved men's beards. They kept oral traditions alive and participated in community political decisions, such as the decision to go to war.