Mark Trahant
ICT
There are so many “firsts” in our generation that sometimes they fly by without notice. Let’s change that for this International Women’s Day and note that there are now five Indigenous women who serve as heads of state, including the president of the most populous nation on the planet.
Here are the five women who are the personal representatives of sovereignty. Droupadi Murmu is the president of India – the largest country in the world with 1.43 billion citizens. Her official biography says she is both the youngest president and the first from a tribal community, the Santal. Hilda Cathy Heine from the Marshall Islands (she is both the 8th and the 10th president of the islands.) Heine is a former university chancellor and the founder of a women’s rights organization. Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon is Inuk. New Zealand’s Cindy Kiro is Māori. And Dominica’s President Sylvanie Burton is Kalinago.
In the United States, the head of state is the president, who also leads the government. But in other countries the head of state is the representative of the sovereign. Think King Charles in the United Kingdom. The head of state can be royalty, appointed by the government, or elected for a term.
The newest member of the sovereign club is Sylvanie Burton. She was elected and sworn-in as the president of the Commonwealth of Dominica in 2023. She is Kalinago … the tribe that first repelled Columbus from its island more than five centuries ago.
Her story is remarkable. She grew up in a Crayfish River, a village in the Kalinago Territory – an intact Indigenous homeland in the Caribbean – where she was surrounded by agriculture and fishing.
As a child she played under a waterfall and learned to swim in the rivers and bay – she calls this her beautiful country.
When she took office last November she talked about how important it was to be the first woman, and first Kalinago to represent Dominica. And “not only for the Kalinago, not only for the women, but I will be a president for all.” She said she took office at a unique moment in history, one not unlike “when Columbus was lost at sea and drifted onto our shores in 1492.”
She cited two global challenges, climate change and Artificial Intelligence.
She claimed as her platform the very idea of Indigeneity: Knowledge deep-rooted in a history of place that adds to community and global discourse.
That is often a shared story told by Indigenous women leading.
Canada’s first governor-general, Mary Simon, also is connected to place and story. She grew up in Nunavik, living a traditional lifestyle. “Many months out of the year, we camped and lived on the land, hunted, fished and gathered food, and maintained an active connection with our Inuit heritage and language.”
Dame Cindy Kiro, the Governor-General of New Zealand, is also clear about what she means when she elevates Indigenous knowledge, part of her unique role that “carries such weight and history.”
In a speech she said three values are critical: “The first is kaitiakitanga: that we are temporary guardians of things that are precious to us, and have a responsibility to look after them for future generations. The second is oranga: preserving the health, vitality, and wellbeing of living things. And the third is manaakitanga: and that is our duty of care for others – to uphold their mana, respect them and look after them.”
“Our” and “duty.”
India’s head of state is Droupadi Murmu. She is from the Santal people, a tribe that has reservations similar to those in this country. (The government of India recognizes what it The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in its constitution.) The Santals speak their own language and have some 7.5 million people. President Murmu is the first woman from her village to earn a college degree. She is former governor of Jharkhand – and in that role was the first woman appointed governor for a “tribal-majority” state.
When she took office in 2022 she said that the world has much to learn about sustainable development from tribal cultures. “I was born in that tribal tradition which has lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years,” she said. “I have realized the importance of forests and water bodies in my life. We take necessary resources from nature with equal reverence. This sensitivity has become a global imperative today.”
Murmu is the first post-colonial president, born in India after independence.
The president of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, is both the head of state and the leader of the government. She was defeated for re-election in 2020. (The president is elected by the legislature, Nitijela.)
Even before she took office again she had been in the news. In December she resigned as a member of the main advisory board for COP28 climate summit because it was “deeply disappointing” that the talks were dominated by fossil fuel interests. She said a global climate response must “deliver an outcome that demonstrates that you are committed to phasing out fossil fuels.”
Heine is Marshallese (the people most impacted by nuclear testing in the islands by the United States). She was educated at the University of Hawaii Moana and has been a university chancellor.
The dangers from climate change threaten the existence of the Marshall Islands. There have been health emergencies in recent years because of the growth of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya. The president said all are linked to climate change.
“Climate change in particular will be very costly for our nation’s future to ensure the survival of our islands,” she said in her inauguration speech. She said her island government will advocate “for our islands and holding the line against larger nations who continue to resist transitioning away from fossil fuels.” The islands are also working on large scale adaptation projects “to ensure we stay above sea level.”
She also said that her island – and really the world – must think about gender differently.
“And a nation is not resilient if it does not support its women. It goes without saying that I have experienced first-hand how difficult it can be to be a woman in this society. Despite our nation being one of the few that has a woman as President, there remains much room for improvement for gender equality,” she said. “Women comprise less leadership positions at the national and local levels, employment rates and salaries for women are lower than men, teenage pregnancies and family planning does not receive the support it requires, and domestic violence in homes and harassment in public places and workplaces continues to be a serious issue. If we truly believe as our ancestors have that “aelon kein an kora” then we need to listen to, believe, and continue to protect and preserve our women.”
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