by KIKE CALVO
For centuries, maritime history has repeated a familiar story: boats belonged to men. Navigation, mobility, fishing, and river travel were long assumed to be exclusively male domains. But a growing body of research suggests a very different narrative—one where women shape, navigate, and sustain aquatic life across South America.
A recent interdisciplinary study challenges these old assumptions by reexamining historical and ethnographic records through what the authors describe as a “feminist and decolonial lens.” Their work reveals that women’s presence on the water has been constant yet systematically overlooked.
Paddles, Power, and Presence Across the Continent
One of the most compelling insights is that women were not simply passengers. They were navigators, keepers of watercraft, and custodians of river knowledge.
In southern Patagonia, for example, early accounts describe how among the Yaghan and Kawésqar, women played essential roles in canoe life—maintaining the fire on board, transporting families, and diving for resources in icy waters. As the authors note, “canoes were indispensable for mobility, and women were central to their daily use.”
Far north in the Pantanal, Guató women displayed remarkable autonomy. Each woman managed her own canoe—an object tied to identity and independence. The paper highlights that “every wife in a polygamous family owned and managed her own canoe,” a detail that quietly but powerfully disrupts stereotypes about gender and navigation.
Images from across Brazil, Colombia, and Guyana reinforce this continuity: girls learning to maneuver dugouts, women poling rafts through flooded forests, grandmothers steering canoes loaded with crops and fishing gear. These moments, though often dismissed as mundane, reveal a sophisticated riverine knowledge passed through generations.
Beyond Utility: The Symbolic Depth of Watercraft
Watercraft were not merely tools—they carried cosmological significance.
Mapuche burial practices, for instance, include canoe-shaped coffins (wampo), framing the canoe as a vessel for the soul’s journey. Meanwhile, Moche iconography portrays a lunar goddess guiding a reed raft. The study notes how these images suggest “an association between femininity, water, and navigation embedded in Andean cosmologies.” Saccone+et+al+2025_+art+women_a…
When we see women on the water, we are not witnessing an anomaly. We are witnessing continuity.
A Quiet Bias in the Archives
Why, then, has this presence been erased from mainstream accounts?
The researchers argue that for decades maritime archaeology has been shaped by assumptions inherited from European maritime traditions, where women were explicitly excluded from ships. These assumptions became lenses—ones that obscured the full picture.
As the authors observe, “the absence of women in the archaeological record is often a reflection of methodological bias rather than historical reality.” Saccone+et+al+2025_+art+women_a…
Their work serves as a reminder that silence in the record is not evidence of absence.
Women as Agents of Aquatic Knowledge
From the southern fjords to the Amazon basin, women were navigators, divers, caregivers, traders, and stewards of river mobility. Canoes and rafts were part of domestic life, economic life, spiritual life.
And their legacy continues today.
Contemporary photographs—young girls guiding dugouts, mothers balancing paddles with infants, elders navigating river channels—reflect not nostalgia, but resilience. As the paper emphasizes, “these practices show a remarkable continuity in women’s engagement with watercraft.”
Their hands keep ancient waters moving.
Why This Matters Today
Understanding women’s historical presence on the water reshapes more than archaeology—it reshapes how we think about mobility, knowledge, and Indigenous innovation.
It also opens pathways for richer conversations about conservation, culture, and the future of river communities. When we widen our lens, stories emerge—stories that challenge assumptions, honor women’s contributions, and bring visibility to voices long overlooked.
This article is inspired by insights from Saccone, E., Blasco, J., Villarmarzo, E., & Gianotti, C. (2025). “Indigenous women and traditional watercraft in Native South America: paddling through gender prejudices.”
