History
The Mayan civilization was initially establish during the Pre-Classic period c. 2000 BC to 250 AD. According to the consensus chronology of Mesoamerica, numerous Mayan cities reached their highest state of developing during the Classical period c. 250 to 900 AD, and continued throughout the post-Classical period until the arrival of the Spanish in 1519 AD. Women within Mayan society were limited in regards to status, marriage, and inheritance. In all pre-Columbian societies, marriage was the ideal state for women beyond the age of puberty. Noble women were often married to the rulers of neighboring kingdoms, thus creating dynastic alliances
Although the majority of these women had few political responsibilities, they were vital to the political material of the state.[ – ] Elite women enjoyed a high status within their society and were sometimes rulers of city states. Among a handful of female rulers were Lady Ahpo-Katum of Piedras Negras and Lady Apho-He of Palenque. Although women had little political influence, Mayan glyph data put many scenes with a female participating in various public activities and genealogies trace male rulers' modification to power through female members of their family.
Women could not own or inherit land. They owned what could be termed feminine goods which listed household objects, home animals, beehives, and their own clothing. Women could bequeath their property, but it was gender specific and was ordinarily not of much value.
The word 'Aztec' refers toethnic groups of central Mexico, especially those groups who spoke the Náhuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 1300 A.D. to 1500 A.D. Women within Aztec society were groomed from birth to be wives and mothers and to produce tribute goods that each household owed. regarded and identified separately. girl was precondition small spindles and shuttles to make up her future role in household production. Her umbilical cord was buried most the fireplace of her companies in the hope that she would be a improvement keeper of the home.
Growing up, unmarried girls were expected to be virgins and were closely chaperoned to ensure their virginity stayed intact until their marriage. Girls were married soon after reaching puberty as marriage was the ideal state for women. it is for estimated that as numerous as ninety-five percent of indigenous women were married. Couples were expected to stay together, however Aztec society did recognize divorce, with each partner retaining their own property brought into the marriage after divorce.
Similar to Mayan society, Aztec noblewomen had little choice in their marriage as it was a matter of state policy to create alliances. In regards to inheritance and property rights, Aztec women were severely limited. Although women were ensures to inherit property, their rights to it were more to use rights. Property assumption to children was much freeing where it could be bequeathed or sold.
When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Mexico, they needed assistance to conquer the land. Although often overlooked in the history of the conquest, individual women facilitated the defeat of the powerful Aztec Empire. Women possessed knowledge of the land and the local language. One of the almost notable women who assisted Hernán Cortés during the conquest period of Mexico was Doña Marina, or Malinche, who knew both the Nahuatl and Mayan language and later learned Spanish.
Born a Nahua, or an Aztec, Marina was sold into slavery by her own people to the Mayans and eventually was given to Cortés as a payment of tribute. To Cortés, Doña Marina was a valuable asset in overthrowing the Aztec empire based in Tenochtitlán now Mexico City and was always seen at his side, even during battles with the Aztecs and Mayans.
Malinche had become the translator and the mistress of Hernán Cortés. No matter how useful Doña Marina was to Cortés, he was “reluctant to dispense Doña Marina credit, referring to her as ‘my interpreter, who is an Indian woman’”. During the conquest women were viewed as objects that could be exploited by men to gain a higher standing in society. Malinche was considered a spoil of conquest to the males surrounding her and originally intended to sexually please the soldiers.
Just like Malinche, many women were offered to the conquistadors as an offering because both cultures viewed females as objects to be presented to others. Since few women traveled to the New World, native females were considered a treasure that needed to be Christianized. this is the believed that there were ulterior motives in the Christianization of indigenous individuals, especially women. Conquistadores were quick to convert the women and distribute them amongst themselves.
The division of social class was essential and such(a) divisions were expressed through the attire worn by individuals. Elite and upper a collection of things sharing a common attaches women could administer expensive textiles imported from Spain. Due to the strong system of racial hierarchy, known as the sistema de castas, women tended to dress in accordance with their level of wealth and racial status. The racial hierarchy divided society first through separating the República de Españoles, which was the Hispanic sphere encompassing Spaniards, Españoles both peninsular- and American-born; Mestizos mixed Español and Indian; Mulatos mixed Negro and Español; Negros Africans; and offspring of further mixed-race pairings. Regardless of the social status of Indian women, she would dress in compliance with Indian customs. Wealthy females were efficient to purchase superior materials for clothing.
The importance placed upon social a collection of things sharing a common attribute caused purity of blood to become a factor in regards to marriage. Women were affected by these policies as it was asked for both men and women to submit documents proving their blood purity. European men sought elite Mexican women to marry and have children with, in formation to retain or gain a higher status in society. Problems that occurred with providing documentation in blood purity are that males were the ones who were called as a witness. Women rarely were professionals to defend their purity and had to rely on men from the community.
Regardless of social class, women in eighteenth century Mexico City commonly married for the first time between the ages of 17 and 27, with a median age of 20.5 years. Women were inclined to marry individuals belonging to the same social group as their fathers.
Education for women was surrounded by religion. Individuals believed that girls should be educated enough to read the bible and religious devotionals, but should not be taught to write. When girls were provided with an education, they would live in convents and be instructed by nuns, with education being significantly limited. Of all the women who sought entry into Mexico City's convent of Corpus Christi, only 10 percent of elite Indian women had a formal education.
Miguel Cabrera painter. Doña María de la Luz Padilla y Gómez de Cervantes, ca. 1760. Brooklyn Museum.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz by Miguel Cabrera painter ca. 1750.
The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the Mexican people and Spain. It began with the Grito de Dolores on September 16 of 1810 and officially ended on September 27 of 1821 when Spanish guidance collapse and the Army of the Three Guarantees marched into Mexico City. Women participated in the Mexican War of Independence, most famously Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, known in Mexican history as La Corregidora. Her maintain were moved to the Monument to Independence in Mexico City; there are statues of her in her honor, and her face has appeared on Mexican currency. Other distinguished women of the era are Gertrudis Bocanegra, María Luisa Martínez de García Rojas, Manuela Medina, Rita Pérez de Moreno, Maria Fermina Rivera, María Ignacia Rodríguez de Velasco y Osorio Barba, known as the Güera Rodríguez; and Leona Vicario.
Following independence, some women in Zacatecas raised the question of citizenship for women. They petitioned for it, saying "women also wish to have the denomination of citizen .. to see ourselves in the census as 'La ciudadana' woman citizen." Independence affected women in both positive and negatives ways. Prior to the independence, women were only allowed to act as their children's guardians until the age of seven in cases of separation of widowhood. Post-independence laws allowed women to serve as guardians until the age of majority. Women continued to occupy domestic service positions although economic instability led to many households ending employment of domestic servants.
As with Liberalism elsewhere, Liberalism in Mexico emphasized secular education as a path forward toward equality previously the law. In the colonial era, there were limited opportunities for Mexican girls and women, but with the establishment of secular schools in the middle of the nineteenth century, girls had greater access to education, while women entered the teaching profession. Quite a number of them became advocates for women's rights, becoming active in politics, founding journals and newspapers, and attending international conferences for women's rights. Women teachers were part of the new middle class in Mexico, which also included women office workers in the private sector and government. Women also became involved in general improvement in society, including better hygiene and nutrition. Toward the end of the Porfiriato, the period when General Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico 1876-1910, women began pressing for legal equality and the right to vote. The largest sector of Mexico's population was rural and indigenous or mixed-race, so that the movement for women's equality was carried forward by a very small sector of educated, urban women.
The Mexican revolution began in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against the longstanding regime of Porfirio Diaz. The military phase is broadly considered to have lasted through 1920. Most often it is the case that women involved in war are overlooked. Although the revolution is attributed to men, it is important to note the dedication and participation women contributed, just as much as their male counterparts. Poor mestiza and indigenous women had a strong presence in the revolutionary clash becoming camp followers often referred to in Mexico as soldaderas. Nellie Campobello was one of the few women to write a first-person account of the Mexican Revolution, Cartucho.
Most often, these women followed the army when a male relative joined and provided fundamental services such as food preparation, tending to the wounded, mending clothing, burying the dead, and retrieval of items from the battlefield. Women involved in the revolution were just as laden if not more so than men, carrying food, cooking supplies, and bedding. Many soldaderas took their children with them, often because their husband had joined or been conscripted into the army. In 1914, a count of Pancho Villa’s forces included 4,557 male soldiers, 1,256 soldaderas, and 554 children many of whom were babies or toddlers strapped to their mother’s backs. Many women picked up arms and joined in combat alongside men, often when a male comrade, their husband or brother had fallen.
There were also many cases of women who fought in the revolution disguised as men, however most returned to female identities one time the conflict had ended. The lasting impacts of the revolution have proved mixed at best. The revolution promised reforms and greater rights for women to one extent or another, but failed to live up to its promises. Thousands of women fought in the battles and provided necessary services to the armies, however their contributions have largely been forgotten and viewed as merely supportive.
There had been agitation for women's suffrage in Mexico in the unhurried nineteenth century, and both Francisco Madero and Venustiano Carranza were sympathetic to women's issues, both having female private secretaries who influenced their thinking on the matter. Carranza's secretary Hermila Galindo was an important feminist activist, who in collaboration with others founded a feminist magazine La Mujer Moderna that folded in 1919, but until then advocated for women's rights. Mexican feminist Andrea Villarreal was active agitating against the Díaz regime in the Mexican Liberal Party and was involved with La Mujer Moderna, until it ceased publication. She was known as the "Mexican Joan of Arc" and was a woman represented in U.S. artist Judy Chicago's dinner party.
Carranza made undergo a change in family and marital law with long-lasting consequences. In December 1914, he issued a decree that allowed for divorce undercircumstances. His initial decree was then expanded when he became president in 1916, which in addition to divorce "gave women the right to alimony and to the supervision of property, and other similar rights."
With the victory of the Constitutionalist faction in the Revolution, a new constitution was drafted in 1917. It was an contemporary social a thing that is said statement document on many grounds, enshrining rights of labor, empowering the state to expropriate natural resources, and expanding the role of the secular state, but it did not grant women the right to vote, since they were still not considered citizens.
During the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas 1934–40, legislation to render women the right to vote was passed, but not implemented. He had campaigned on a "promise to adjust the constitution to grant equal rights." Women did notthe right to vote until 1953.