Does anybody know what is the women’s role in traditional Aboriginal religion?

Question

Does anybody know what is the women’s role in traditional Aboriginal religion?

Answer 1

she keeps the babies safe from the dingos

Answer 2

I would not say that aboriginal life has "religion" in it...  indigenous peoples live with an integrated concept of spiritiual understanding and natural world.  That is, everything has spiritual meaning, and nothing is "outside" of this meaningful existence.  Religion as we know it is a "separate" part of our lives, where indigenious peoples did not separate certain aspects of human thought out.  That is, indigenous cultures live their whole worldview at all times in their lives.

There is an interesting book I came across recently.  It discusses women and indigenous spirituality.  You might like to read it and perhaps it will give you some ideas...  it's called:

The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine

by Barbara Tedlock, Ph.D.

Yeah, the author calls it religion too, (sigh), but still, it had some interesting speculations about women's roles in how indigenous worldviews were/are practiced.

Answer 3

Roles in Aboriginal culture are always changing so my guess is that the same applies to religion.  It is a very spiritual culture or life and so what you refer to as religion is likely quite transparent with many intermingling lines.

Answer 4

My first suggestion is Not to give any credence to what is written by MARLO MORGAN, who is widely considered a charlatan and a fraud by traditional Aboriginal people and communities.

http://www.west.com.au/reviews/morgan/

The links contained on this site offer a truer understanding of Aboriginal culture as told by Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal women were always the first teachers in a community, expressed in the vital role of educating children in the basic spirituality and customs of the group.

Women were integral to spirituality, in the most natural form of being the female aspect.  But don't forget, that in all dreaming stories, women weren't passive victims, but active powerful entities on a par with the male characters.  This only reflects the true status of Aboriginal women in their traditional roles.