Who Played a More Important Role in the Fur Trade

Women played a more important role in the fur trade, but that is not to say the men didn’t contribute. The First Nations women had a very important job with providing their communities with food, shelter, and clothing which were quite important to the fur trade because without these there would be no people to trap and trade the fur. As well the women were in charge of collecting and processing the furs, doing these jobs were quite important because it made furs available to trade with the Europeans. Both the women and the men were interpreters and guides for the Europeans which greatly helped the fur trade because it introduced the Europeans to new areas with new furs to trap and by interpreting they made it possible for the Europeans to negotiate with them and other First Nations people. The women also collected the pine gum which was used to patch up canoes. Women played a largely forgotten but important role in the fur trade.