The Portrayal of Indigenous Women in the 21st Century

For years, there has been a consistent trend in neglecting the violence and harassment of thousands of indigenous women in Canada. Although violence against women has always been present and largely damaging, Indigenous women and girls are particularly vulnerable. A conservative estimate suggests that there are more than 1,100 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Aboriginal girls and women are overrepresented in prostitution and 60 percent of sexually exploited youth are Aboriginal.

As a result, the portrayal of indigenous women in the news and over media is mostly anonymous, and is low profile as possible. The women are generalized by the hundreds, while cases where white women are much more specific, detailed and broadcasted.

Headshots of some of the missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada.

Causes

The cause behind this stems from more of a systemic oppression, breaking down into topics such as colonialism, misogyny, and racism against Indigenous people in general. Ever since Canada was colonized, Indigenous people have had multiple personal and land rights stripped away from them, as well as faced continuous racism throughout the decades with incidences such as the residential schools to the gentrification of sacred lands. All of this prejudice creates a perspective that indigenous women are more likely to be seen as prostitutes or women of lower value compared to white women. This effect could actually be on purpose, being used as a tool of colonialism and racism. Indigenous women have, since the inception of the colonial project, been understood as sexually disposable, and social and legal institutions have sustained this logic.

Neglect from the Justice System

Another significant cause of this portrayal is due to the lack of urgency and response from law enforcement. Many times, reports of missing indigenous women women are put on the backburner or dismissed, and little action is done to solve the issue before it is too late. This most likely comes from the perception of unimportance/continuation of oppression towards indigenous people, and in turn makes it even worse. It is a cycle of prejudice: Police will not help or consider the cases of missing indigenous women because there have been so many unsolved cases, and therefore add even more unsolved cases making it even less likely for another case to be solved. Not only does the justice system neglect, but in some cases allow situations of violence against indigenous women. Indigenous women are said to be over-policed in terms of criminalization and incarceration, but under-policed in terms of protection.

To show just how corrupt the justice system is when it comes to dealing with the violence of indigenous women: In one incident, a Cree woman named Cindy Gladue was fatally beaten to death by Bradley Barton, a white man who had paid her for sexual intercourse. Although the damage done to Gladue's body was severe and enough to be charged for assault and murder, Barton was acquitted of all charges and the case was downplayed to a sickening description of "rough sex gone too far". Barton believed that since he had paid for Gladue, he had paid for the right to her body and treated it as an object, easily disposable after use.

Cindy Gladue was beaten to death by Bradley Barton, who was acquitted of charges since it was just "rough sex gone too far."

Media Portrayal

News Articles

The media has been notorious for under-representing coverage of news stories that contain indigenous women. For example, there is the case of coverage of the “Highway of Tears”: a long stretch of highway in BC where multiple aboriginal women have gone missing, and yet there is little media coverage about it. Not only is the indigenous identity of the woman a factor of how much coverage they receive, but other factors such as the colour of their skin or the women who are at higher risk for violence like sex trade workers, drug addicts and financially struggling women. News outlets are more biased towards empathetic coverage of white women, who are seen as more of a friendly next-door-girl type with a nice family than an aboriginal woman. According to Gilchrist, news stories about white women missing appeared much more frequently than stories of indigenous women. The white women stories also had large photos and intimate descriptions of their lives, such as hobbies, life goals, etc. In comparison, indigenous women had smaller, more discrete stories hidden with the “soft news”, rarely making headlines. The descriptions of these women were much more vague, with general words such as “nice”, “caring”, “innocent”. Descriptions of the good qualities of the Aboriginal women were superficial, limited to brief descriptions such as “shy”, “nice”, “caring,” and “pretty.”

Internet

The internet is very powerful and easily accessible, and therefore it can be very dangerous if put in the wrong hands. It is possible to track the movement and activity of anyone, let alone indigenous women. This can lead to online harassment and abuse of indigenous women. The internet also has archives of child pornography accessible through various means, and this can increase the exposure of illegal pornography of young indigenous girls and boys. The internet can also be used for communication and planning, most notably between child predators and human traffickers. This makes moving and capturing indigenous women as sex slaves much easier: young and easily-influenced indigenous women from rural areas are lured into the trade often with promises of a job and the excitement of life in the city.

Public Response

Due to the continuous outrage from the societies and communities, Canadians have elected a government that has promised to host a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, which began September 1, 2016. This inquiry will explore the roots of the issue, in things such as the constant discrimination of the indigenous people, and the poverty of their living standards. The inquiry will also look into addressing the unfair treatment of indigenous women by the justice system. For more information, visit https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1448633299414/1448633350146.

References: