The Iroquois Confederacy, or the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca rtibes of the American North-East, were a hugely progressive and open-minded community that developed before English colonization.  Resembling more of an early communist society than an oligarchy, the Iroquois maintatined a shared mixed economy.  Land rights were obsolete.  Instead, community longhouses were commonplace, and food and water were shared throughout tribes.

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Women of the Iroquois held some of the most important and prominent roles in their communities. The Iroquoian society was purley matriarchial; clan inhertiaged were passed from mother to child, contradicting European patriarchial traditions.  Furthermore, women were seen to be close to nature and the earth.  As a result, women were the cultivators, harvesters, and processors of crops and foods in Iroquois communities.  While women were not expected to fight (men were the "warriors" of their communities), women were respected greatly, and posessed many political poewrs, such as appointing the chiefs of their tribes.

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Not only were women revered in their societies as political and spiritual leaders, but women were granted powers that are considered to be very modern.  If a husband was abusive, lazy, or disrespectful, a woman could have a divorce very easily.  In fact, a woman would often just place the man's belongings outside to indicate that they were divorcing him. Children would immeditaely be in their mother's full custody in the event of a divorce.

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After European assimilation and settlement, unfortunately, many Iroquioan concepts of gender equality and marriage principles were destroyed, along with the cultures of dozens of tribes. Today, some remaining Iroquoian tribes have extended the rights of women in their society.  Women can become chiefs and even grand chiefs.  Women have also extended their areas of work into ironworking.  However, family names are now passed on by the father, and custody battles are required after divorce.