Women in Life Among the Paiutes (Essay Example)

White women and women of color lived very different lives during the years. Sarah Winnemucca's story, "Life Among the Piutes", talks about the vastly different lives white women and Indian women live. Sarah discussed the different ways of courting. “But the courting is very different from the courting of the white people.  He never speaks to her or visits the family, but endeavors to attract her attention by showing his horsemanship, etc.”(Sarah 213) Indian women were not allowed to talk to any boy besides immediate family members while white women could talk to men while having a chaperon. White families were known for marrying into their families while they do not marry into their families. Another big difference between white women and women of color is how their families treat them to getting married. White women are often forced to marry and their fathers will choose their husbands for them while Indian women can choose if they want to marry and who they want to marry. “She is never forced by her parents to marry against her wishes"(213)

Not only were the relationships women had been completely different based on their race, but so were their roles in politics. White women often did not have a say in congress no matter how much they spoke out and fought for rights. Cherokee women and Indian women have more political power, these women are often involved with their government. Sarah discussed how anybody can speak in their council meetings.  "The council-tent is our Congress, and anybody can speak who has anything to say, women and all."(214). And Cherokee women run the council and make decisions for the men because the men are their descendants. Your mothers and your sisters ask and beg of you not to part with any more of our land. We say ours. You are our descendants;"(210). White women do not hold as much political power as the other races do. 

Though some women had a few more rights than white women, they both were overly sexualized by men, especially white men. Women were to maintain virtue and be untouched for their husbands, but some women were often prostitutes. In Jin's story, you can see how both white men and men of color would pay money for prostitutes and that is how many women like jin made good money due to the wage gap. Women were supposed to please men even if they were virtuous. With the westward expansion the more the cultures blended and white ideology peaked through.