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In some countries like America or still developing ones women still face great challenges, but it seems quite bizarre for someone like me coming from North Europe. During the times when we were Pagans, women fought alongside men and were respected as chieftains. They earned respect with their heritage, wisdom, beaty and strong will and were granted same positions like men. To my mind, the balance has shifted a bit with the rise of Christianity, the hierarchy of men, but women have never lost the power of our ancestors to win rightful place in today's community. Both men and women were regarded as equal Warriors and I believe we still are. We fight together with our men, we depend on each other and our battles are shared together. I am particularly interested in this story as it is quite opposite from what I had grown up with.

One general statement cannot be underlined for this topic. This is because if we do so it would be an stereotype and cannot apply to all cases. Back in those days, most of the communities had specific roles for women and specific roles for men. There was also social status specific to each gender. For some few communities, women would occupy a higher status than that of men but for most communities the opposite was the case. Each gender understood and accepted their position and there were no competitions.

In our context (in the Strong heart story) whose setting seem to be several years ago, we get some understanding on the position of women and their life. A good example in the story is seen in the contest called by Thin Hair. The contest was on throwing of darts in precision. Pretty Face (a man) could not accept to be defeated by Strong Heart (a woman) in the contest. This is seen in this statement in page 116. "... because it does not matter to you (Strong Heart) but it matters much to him (Pretty Face)". Therefore in this society, it is seen that women occupied a lower status to men and therefore it was a disgrace for a woman to be ahead of a man in anything. As I stated earlier, This was the case in most communities across the world many years ago.

Yes I agree that when Sarah could throw better than the men could that was a huge eye opener. I think men can handle the fact women can do some things better today than they could back then.

Many years ago, life of women could have been very difficult. It would have been a male dominating society. Sarah's story has taught a lot about the life of women then.

Back in the days, a woman's identity, honour and pride lies within a man. Today women do not depend on men to be somebody in the society. Women challenge men in all aspects of life and even do better. Women have come very far and can proudly say that it is both a man and a woman's world.

I think this is the best time since the beginning of history to be a woman. But we still have a long way to go...

I think back to how the world reacted during the push for the equal rights amendment and it seems strang to me that there were so many people, men and women, who thought that was a crazy thing for women to want. It didn't pass either. So yes we've come a long way, but there are forces out there that still don't like it. I heard a business quoted yesterday who said if 10% of his executives were women, it was equal enough. Hmmm?

Life for a woman many years ago would have been very different than it is today. For example, many years ago a woman would not have been allowed to voice her opinion in a post like this. I, for one, am thankful for the progress that has been made.

Yes, women have made a lot of progress in society. The only difference is that back then, society was different. As things change, women too have fought very hard to earn a seat at the table.

Although back in Strong Heart's time, women were expected to chip in and help and work. Strong Heart was expected to sail the boat along with the others. This would be equal, so that's good.

Yes I noticed that they did not have the independence like we do. Also they do not have the technology like we do to do a majority of stuff from cooking to cleaning to doing laundry. Work for women back then was a lot harder.

ebethina wrote:Yes I noticed that they did not have the independence like we do. Also they do not have the technology like we do to do a majority of stuff from cooking to cleaning to doing laundry. Work for women back then was a lot harder.

I loved to listen about old times. Nowadays everyone goes to youtube to explore any work, there is nothing new coming out. Self learnt people bring innovations.

ebethina wrote:Yes I noticed that they did not have the independence like we do. Also they do not have the technology like we do to do a majority of stuff from cooking to cleaning to doing laundry. Work for women back then was a lot harder.

It definitely was.

It shows how far we've come. In the past women were treated like property.

Women have certainly made great strides since before we could vote, work, or receive education. I hope our gender continues to fight for our equality. However, it must be done in a respectful way.