Portraits of tribal heroines for International Women's Day

This page was created in 2014 and may contain language which is now outdated.

Which Brazilian tribal women suckle orphaned monkeys? Which North American Indian women have enjoyed equal status with men for centuries?

To mark International Women’s Day on March 8, 2014, Survival International is publishing a new photographic gallery that portrays the lives and stories of inspiring tribal women, past and present.

Tribal women have known brutal displacement, fear, murder and rape at the hands of invaders for generations. They have seen their lands taken from them, their self-respect annihilated and their futures become uncertain.

Survival’s gallery includes the stories of:

- Pocahontas, a Powhatan Indian who married an Englishman and was introduced to King James I in London during the 17th century;
- Angata, an Indigenous leader from Easter Island, who stirred rebellion against their Chilean colonists;
- Damiana Cavanha, a Guarani woman from Brazil who recently spearheaded a courageous take-over of the Guarani’s ancestral lands;
- Little Butterfly, a young girl from the nomadic Awá people, the Earth’s most threatened tribe.

Sophie Grig, senior campaigner at Survival International, said, ‘Tribal women have complex, evolving societies that flourish when they are able to pursue the self-sufficient and diverse ways of life they have developed over centuries.

‘The gallery shows some of the courageous women who are fighting for their lands to be returned to them and for their fundamental human rights. Survival’s work has been preventing the annihilation of tribal women and their communities for the last 45 years.’

Note to Editors:

- Survival’s gallery is available for syndication, please contact the press office for the images in high resolution.