Women in the Cook Islands

As figures of the household, women of the Cook Islands oversee and manage the land, crops, and the financial resources of the family unit.

In relation to church and village responsibilities, Cook Islander women serve as "primary administrators" of religious and community affairs.

[1] In Cook Islander society, any person who commits domestic violence against women receives severe forms of punishment.

[1] By adhering to culture, women in the Cook Islands are buried inside burial vaults located in front of the yards of houses, particularly the woman who is known to be the builder of the said home.

[1] Cook island women are known to weave the tivaevae, a form of textile art to adorn cushion covers and bedspreads.

An old woman from the Cook Islands sewing a tivaevae .
A portrait of a pure-caste Rarotongan girl from the Cook Islands, before 1906.
Makea Takau , Queen of Rarotonga, the Cook Islands. This photograph was taken during her trip to Auckland, New Zealand in 1885.