They also had specific roles in the social and ceremonial life of the community.

The Buffalo Calf Pipe, one of the most sacred objects in Lakota spiritual life, is associated with a woman — White Buffalo Calf Woman — who is said to have brought it to the Lakota.

Women participated in ceremonies.

They had roles in the councils that governed the camp, not as formal voting members (council membership was primarily male) but as people whose opinions were expressed through kinship networks and whose influence was real even if informal.

Lakota women could own property.