The women appear to stand on a footing of perfect equality with the men both in the family and in the community. The wife is the constant and trusted companion of the man in everything except the hunt, and her opinion is sought in every bargain or other important undertaking.[533]
Dr. Simpson’s description[534] of the standing of the women at Point Barrow in his time is so true at the present day that I may be pardoned for quoting the whole of it:
A man seems to have unlimited authority in his own hut, but, as with few exceptions his rule is mild, the domestic and social position of the women is one of comfort and enjoyment. As there is no affected dignity or importance in the men, they do not make mere slaves and drudges of the women; on the contrary, they endure their full share of fatigue and hardship in the coldest season of the year, only calling in the assistance of the women if too wearied themselves to bring in the fruits of their own industry and patience; and at other seasons the women appear to think it a privation not to share the labors of the men. A woman’s ordinary occupations are sewing, the preparation of skins for making and mending, cooking, and the general care of the supplies of provisions. Occasionally in the winter she is sent out on the ice for a seal which her husband has taken, to which she is guided by his footmarks; and in spring and summer she takes her place in the boat if required.
The statement in the first sentence that the husband’s rule is mild is hardly consistent with that on the following page that “obedience seems to be the great virtue required, and is enforced by blows when necessary, until the man’s authority is established.” According to our experience the first statement is nearer the truth. We heard of few cases of wife-beating, and those chiefly among the younger men. Two brothers, who habitually ill-treated their wives, were looked upon with disfavor, by some of our friends at least. We heard of one case where a stalwart wife turned the tables on her husband who attempted to abuse her, giving him a thorough beating and then leaving his house.
Wife-beating was not uncommon among the Greenlanders.[535] We did not learn whether a woman brought anything like a dowry, but Simpson[536] says: “The woman’s property, consisting of her beads and other ornaments, her needlecase, knife, etc., are considered her own; and if a separation takes place the clothes and presents are returned and she merely takes away with her whatever she brought.” According to Crantz[537] a widow in Greenland had no share of her husband’s property, but owns only what she brought with her, and I am inclined to believe that this is the case at Point Barrow.
One widow of my acquaintance, who appeared to have no relatives in the village, was reduced almost to beggary, though her husband had been quite well-to-do. All his property and even his boy were taken from her by some of the other natives. Widows who have well-to-do relatives, especially grown-up sons, are well taken care of and often marry again. According to Captain Parry,[538] unprotected widows were robbed at Iglulik.
[Children.]—
From the small number of births which occurred during our stay at Point Barrow, we were able to ascertain little in regard to this subject. When a woman is about to be confined, she is isolated in a little snow hut in winter or a little tent in summer, in which she remains for some time—just how long we were unable to learn. Captain Herendeen saw a pregnant woman in Utkiavwĭñ engaged, on March 31, in building a little snow house, which she told him was meant for her confinement, but she had evidently somehow miscalculated her time, as her child was not born till much later, when the people had moved into the tents. She and her child lived in a little tent on the beach close to her husband’s tent, evidently in a sitting position, as the tent was not large enough for her to lie down in. Her husband was desirous of going off on the summer deer hunt, but, under the circumstances, custom forbade his leaving the neighborhood of the village till the ice at sea broke up. The same custom of isolating the women during childbirth has been observed by Kumlien and Boas at Cumberland Gulf[539], and in Greenland the mother was not allowed to eat or drink in the open air.[540] Lisiansky describes a similar practice in Kadiak in 1805,[541] and Klutschak also notes it among the Aivillirmiut.[542]
The custom of shutting up the mother and child in a snow house in winter must be very dangerous to the infant, and, in fact, the only child that was born in winter during our stay lived but a short time. Capt. Herendeen visited this family at Nuwŭk shortly after the death of the child, and saw the snow house in which the woman had been confined. He was about to take a drink of water from a dipper which he saw in the iglu, but was prevented by the other people, who told him that this belonged to the mother and that it was “bad” for anyone else to use it. In Greenland the mother had a separate water pail.[543] For a time, our visitors from Utkiavwĭñ were very much afraid to drink out of the tin pannikin in our washroom, for fear it had been used by Niăksăra, a woman who had recently suffered a miscarriage. One man told us that a sore on his face was caused by his having inadvertently done so. This same woman was forbidden to go out among the broken ice of the land floe, during the spring succeeding her miscarriage, though she might go out on the smooth shore ice. Her husband also was forbidden to work with a hammer or adz or to go seal-catching for some time after the mishap.