Many Tender Ties: Into,CH.1

These two sections in the book that I read were very interesting to me because I was able to learn about some native american women's experiences. In some tribes they were not treated very well, or even as human it seems. What I found most suprising is that some husbands would willingly trade their wives or 'lend' them out to strangers for any period of time. I feel that this is an early form of prostitution. In some cases, men would wrestle to trade wives, or win a wife from another man. Women were often put up as the prize; therefore considered as property. Their life was very hard from what I've read. My question is, are there tribes where women were considered an important part of the economic, political society?