In the United States, violence against indigenous women and children has reached unprecedented levels on tribal lands. More than 4 in 5 of Native American women have experienced violence, and more than one half of them have experienced sexual assault. They suffer physical and sexual violence at rates far exceeding women of other ethnicities. A majority of the reasons is that some of the tribal laws don't apply to non-Native perpetrators, and a lot of the victims are too afraid to tell the truth. These all come together has made the perpetrators even more rampant.......

Native women has the prevalence of violence exposure at rates ranging from 46–91%. While non-Native populations had prevalence rates ranging from 7–51%.

Prevalence rates of rape among Native American population is as high as 34.1%, which is nearly twice the rates among women of other ethnicities, while 86 percent of reported cases are perpetrated by non-Natives.

58.7% of Native American women had been victims of domestic violence, resulting in severe physical trauma in 39.1% of these women.

Women were valued and honored in Native cultures. Almost all native creation stories have women being made first. Native women were respected and valued. Courtship practices reflected this attitude toward women. Native American male ancestors demonstrated their ability to protect and provide for her the woman through courtship rituals. In marriage, a woman and her children did not take the father’s last name because they were not property of the man. Everyone had his or her own names, acknowledging individuality and personal sovereignty.

There was no battle of the sexes. Women and men were not considered “opposites,” or one inferior, the other superior. They were partners that respected and balanced each other.

The colonizer that came to this country had a history where women and children were the legal property of the father or husband. A woman took the last name of her husband so that other men would know that she was not sexually available. The wedding ring and marriage came together as a symbol of ownership as well. With ownership comes the privilege of treating your property however you choose.

Because women and children were property, they had few rights while husbands had the legal right to beat wives. Today, women and children are not the legal property of husbands and fathers. However, attitudes have been slow to keep up with the law and many men still believe it is their “privilege” to control women. Native women and children are still being abused on tribal lands nowadays as a long-term effect of European colonization centuries ago.