<P> The division of labor reflected the complementary aspects common in Iroquois culture: The twin gods Sapling (East) and Flint (West) embodied the two complementary halves . Each gender had defined roles in labor to support the people, which complemented each other . Women did all work involving the field, including planting, cultivating and harvesting the crops; while men did all work involving the forest, including the manufacture of anything involving wood . The Iroquois men carried out hunting and fishing, trading, and fighting, while the women took care of farming, food gathering and processing, rearing of children, and housekeeping . This gendered division of labor was the predominant means of dividing work in Iroquois society . At the time of contact with Europeans, Iroquois women produced about 65% of the goods and the men 35% . The combined production of food made famine and hunger extremely rare; early Europeans settlers often envied the success of Iroquois food production . </P> <P> The Iroquois system of work reflected their communal land system . Since the Iroquois owned property together, they worked together as well . The women performed difficult work in large groups, going from field to field helping one another work each other's land . Together they would sow the fields as a "mistress of the field" distributed a set amount of seeds to each of the women . The Iroquois women of each agricultural group would select an old but active member of their group to act as their leader for that year and agree to follow her directions . The women performed other work cooperatively as well . The women individually cut wood for family use, but their leader would oversee the collective carrying of the wood back to the village . The women's clans performed other work . According to Mary Jemison, a white woman assimilated with the Seneca while a young woman, the collective effort averted "every jealousy of one having done more or less work than another ." </P> <P> The Iroquois men also organized in a cooperative fashion . The men acted collectively during military actions . The other jobs of men, such as hunting and fishing, also involved cooperative elements . The men more often organized as a whole village rather than as a clan . The men organized hunting parties where they used extensive cooperation to kill a large amount of game . One firsthand account told of a hunting party that built a large brush fence in a forest to form a V . The hunters set a fire across from the open side of the V, forcing the animals to run towards the point where the hunters awaited them . They could kill one hundred deer at a time by such a plan . </P> <P> The men also fished in large groups . Fishing expeditions included men in canoes using weirs and nets to cover entire streams and harvest large amounts of fish, sometimes a thousand in half of a day . A hunting or fishing party's takings were considered common property; they were divided among the party by the leader or taken to the village for a feast . Hunting and fishing were not always cooperative efforts, but the Iroquois generally did better in parties than as individuals . </P>

What did the algonquins and the iroquois have in common