Deb Haaland breaks political barriers as Native women in her home community face hurdles

PARAJE, N.M. (AP) — On the morning of a Laguna Pueblo village's annual Feast Day, Ashley Sarracino knelt in her family home holding clothespins between her teeth. She straightened her niece’s black cotton manta, a traditional one-shouldered dress, and tied a sash around her waist.On these days, Sarracino is a caretaker, dressing relatives for the harvest dance and helping feed up to 150 guests.

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And as a former member of the pueblo council, she knows how to balance those traditional responsibilities with official duties.“To me, those things aren’t in conflict at all,” she said.Yet even as another Laguna Pueblo woman, former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, is set to become the first Native American woman state governor, women with leadership aspirations such as Sarracino say they are swimming upstream in their Pueblo communities.

Sarracino said she was forced off the council after alleging she was paid less because she was a woman, a claim pueblo officials deny.In some of the 19 pue