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« on: December 28, 2009, 10:56:09 am »
Introduction
The gender role of women in Mexico is not an absolute, static or ahistorical, it is a psycho-social construction. But, how to know what is the gender role of the Mexican woman? And also, what has affected it throughout the years? Maybe the answer can be found thru derivation of historical facts, cultural practices and analysis of mythological figures
Historical Context
Aztec Empire
Within aztec society, it was expected of the woman to be a virgin until marriage, to be submissive, abnegated, reserved and to accept the reproaches of her husband; despite this, she could enter contractual relations, inherit and possess property, and to ask for justice when it was necessary.1
Their social stratification was “based in prestige… that was achieved mostly through warrior feats or thru commerce”2 At birth, the umbilical cords of males were buried in a battle field, to symbolize their future role as warriors, while the ones of females was buried near the home, to symbolize their domestic centered future; the day of their name assignation, males were given a small bow, four arrows and a shield, while the females were given objects to sew, a huipil (blouse) and naguas (skirt)3
Colony
During the colonial period this changed, because, aztec women were used by the conquistadores as a médium to bear children and use them not just as labor slaves, but sexual too.4 The Inquisition institutions in Mexico existed from 1522 until 1819, during said years there was a monastic inquisition that focused on evangelization and battling idolatry (1522-1533), that later on gave place to an Episcopal inquisition from 1535 until 1571, when the Spanish Crown decreed natives out of its jurisdiction, and that the bishop only had power over matters of morality and faith. Basicly his power was restricted to 20% of the population by 1571: Spaniards, Europeans, mestizos, Africans, mulattos and Asians, which constituted about 450,000 persons.The treatment of women by this institution “generally benefited women with indulgence from the judges, for it is not acceptable to treat these irresponsible minors that, barely conscious, with the same rigour as men, which are the only complete human beings”
Bigamy was common in these times, adventurous spaniards that arrived to the New Spain for riches, usually left behind their families to, in theory, send for them once they were established, although, in many of the cases, they remarried.
There were special cases of women, which were “blessed” or sorceresses. “Blessed” ones like Teresa Romera, Antonia de Ochoa and Juana de los Reyes did acts such as spitting blood from their mouths, had visitations by Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and Thomas Aquinas, manifested sores, suffered catatonic states due to being possessed by some evil spirit, making fastings, using sackcloths and constant penitence (which translated into credit, “wills” and donations by the community); what they had in common too was being criollas, with an economically unstable situation. Sorceresses usually lived in the countryside, widows and being women of caste, constantly prescribing diverse substances, ignoring, but not opposing religion, having a constant interaction with women that asked for their services.
The Spaniard women that arrived to Mexico could choose to be nuns (but there were aristocratic and racial requisites, such as having Christian ancestry while not having Jewish), but not on an ascetic manner, more like with servants; meanwhile, Spaniards born in mexico, native royalty, mestizos and free blacks had to conform themselves of becoming “sisters” to do all the work.
Independence
After the Independence, women could study in secular schools, but in regards to them, the Feminist Congress that took place in Yucatan in 1916 said “They lived, made tortillas, and died”. During Juarez’s Reforma, the goods and properties of the Church were nationalized, nunneries were abolished and there was given the opportunity for mayor education and jobs for women. After the conservative intervention that saw Maximilian in power, with Porfirio Diaz there was a slow but constant increase of educated women. Between 1888 and 1904, the first women graduated from medicine, law and commerce.
Unmarried women had the same rights as men (except vote), while the married ones would fall within the law under the category of “imbecilitas sexus”, which reduced their rights to those of children; but women of lower classes basicly had the coice of being servants or prostitutes.
Revolution
During the Revolution, women took over farms, businesses and families, aswell as participated in the conflicto as soldiers, rear guard, and as spies. Carranzistas took power and wrote “Althought the fact that some exceptional women possess the necessary qualifications to exersice satisfactorily their political rights, it does not derive in the conclusion that those should be given to all women as a class”
XX Century
Until 1922 was when vote was granted to women, in Yucatán; in 1923, four women were elected as deputies. 1924, Elvira Carrillo Puerto was elected for the Chamber of Deputies, but her credentials were not recognized. 1932, equality of rights such as entering contracts, to hold federal and state office, have jobs and be able to sell properties. 1953, Ruiz Cortines follows thru with a proposition made by president Cardenas that explicitly declared the right of voting to all women in all elections of the country and the ability to take charge of any office.
Aztec and Christian Mythology: Important Female Figures
Lilith
“Ever since the days of Eden, apples have been man´s desire. How overjoyed I am to think, sir, apples grow, too, in my garden”. –The Beautiful Witch
Condemned within the context of ancient Babylon, Hebrew tablets, the kabbalah and hermetism (although not within modern luciferianismo), for the act of being a woman that demands equality, that doesn’t submit to male pressure “Why should I lay below you? For I was made out of dust too, therefore, I am your equal” Adam insisted, which provoked Lilith to abandon him, God sent three angels after her to make her come back – she refuses to return, and God puts a curse upon her, that a hundred of his children shall day every day, to which she promises to kill any infant before circumcision at the third day for males, and before the twentieth for females. Because of her insubordination and contrarieties to typical characteristics within marianism, she is characterized as a demon, and because of this she isn’t venerated.
Virgin Mary
The mother of God son, the wife of the Holy Spirit, daughter of Joachim and Saint Anne, the veneration of Mary officially started at the council of 431 A.D. where among other things, consensus was reached about her virginity and assumption, and was given the title “Theotokos” (Mother of God). Contrasting with mythological figures such as Iokasté, Elektra, Antigone, Cassandra and Clitemnestra, she summed up in her being pious maternity, grace and purity. When the angel Gabriel visited her, she responded “Here is the slave of the Lord, may his word be accomplished in me”. Here is the figure from where “marianism” is derived, a passive women beside a masculine figure, and that derives her grace and divinity only thru the act of giving birth.
Coatlicue
Coatlicue (the one with the serpent skirt) is the Earth goddess, along with Ometecuhtli, forming the primordial couple Ometeotl, and at the same time she represents Teteo Innan (Mother of the Gods), Tonatzin (Our Venerated Mother) and Toci (Our Grandmother); among other names of her were Omecihuatl (Lady Two), Tonacacihuatl (Our Sustain), Citlalcueitl (star skirt) and Mictecacihuatl (Lady of Mictlán). One day, after finding a ball of feathers, she took it, and turned out pregnant by it, which enraged her sons, the Centzon Huitznahuac and her daughter Coyolxauhqui, which desired to kill her. Coatlicue fleed to the mountain Coatepec, where just before being caught by her sons, gave birth to Huitzilopochtli, which was born in adult form and fully armed, and defeated his brothers.
Our Lady of: Izamal, San Juan, Zapopan y de la Salud
Besides the minutia details of their particular origins, what they have in common are the attributions of them of curing and protecting such as: protecting load lifters that were transladating them from one place to another, curing crippled children, blacks, indigenous people and mulattos; saving sailors attacked by pirates; resurrecting children, youth and animals; curing the blind and stopping epidemics.
Virgin Mary of Guadalupe
Mary of Guadalupe, symbol of mestizo identity, maternal figure for a land of orphans, piety and national unity; a translation of the Virgin Mary for the New Spain context. She appeared upon Juan Diego between the 9 and 12th of December of 1531, in which during she convinced the population of Tlatelolco that they should build a temple in her name. She was war standard for fights such as the indigenous rebellion against slavists; in 1810 she was the standard for Miguel Hidalgo and the Independence and finally in 1910s Revolution, she was standard of the Zapatistas during their march over the capitol.
Analysis
The aztec myth of the creation of humans, mentions that Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtly, the man they named Oxomaco, which would dedicate itself to work the land, and the woman they named Cactonal, which would dedicate itself to knitting and sewing, healing, foreseeing the future and sorcery. The most prestigious place was the Paradise of the Sun, to which only warriors killed in combat, those that were sacrificed and women that died during child delivery had access. There was the belief, that if a person ate a tamal, that while cooking got stuck in the bottom of the casserole, for men, they would have bad aim in war, and for women, they would not bear children properly. All of these beliefs hightlight the sexual role division; men should do the physical work and be warriors, while the women should focus on children and the home; the problems that come from eating a tamal stuck in the bottom of the casserole, manifest what was most important for each gender and wished to avoid.
There is continuity in the treatment of women in the Aztec Empire up to the post-colonial period, because, due to machismo present in the prehispanic culture; the cult of virility. Aswell, machismo has its counterpart, hembrismo; the man as strong, conqueror, dominant; the woman as dependent, conformist, with no imagination and shy.
Within machismo, a man proves his virility by having sexual conquests, and the material evidence of these conquests are children, which implies impregnating multiple women, holding a pattern of infidelities, which inevitably leads to an abscense of the father in all the spectrum of possible manners; while the woman is more “noble” by, despite suffering with her situation, not leaving her husband and raising the children herself. “Middle class in general, sees feminine parasitism as a virtue: the most beautiful adornment of the home, of his husband, it’s the wife, a living testimony of his manhood, money and power”
It’s an interesting manifestation, colonial bigamy, for it’s a respect for the catholic ritual, but at the same time, but ignoring its restrictions completely. Possibly something that influenced until actuality is the “disphasement of appearances, the offered and kept image and the reality that things it hides”
The situation of the beatificated women and the sorceress, was with the intent of exerting influence over important people with power, such as high class women or males “its about sexual and social revenge, such effects shouldn’t be underestimated”, them being women in the first place, and also without privileges, it was their only way to excel. Other way for prestige was becoming a nun, but taking care of not dealing with theological issues, or any intellectual matter, for that brings on trouble, such as those faced by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
A study realized between 1966 and 1967, of 2457 men and 2953 women in the Federal District and other 14 states, showed results that the number of children born to a Mexican couple throughout 20 years of marriage, are in average 6.9. And this great number of children, relegates the woman to have to focus on child birth and rearing, due to the cultural tendency for the father’s abscense within the family system. Also, a survey of 2500 couples, realized between 1966 and 1968, showed that only 11.5% knew, accepted and used contraceptive methods that were not approved by the Church.
A characteristic of the Mexican family is “an absentee father that appears eventually and an abnegated and passive mother”; this absence of the father difficults the psycho-social development, due to, there not being a castrating agent that brings forth the incest prohibition and helps them cross the Oedipus complex, the son, instead of having value on its own, has to live being merely the phallus of the mother, which is gratifying for the mother, but its in detriment to the differentiation and autonomy of the children.
“The prescence of goddesses or protective virgins, was the only possible way to uphold hope that could lessen their orphan quality” Also, readapting a judeo-christian god, with a Mesoamerican god such as Huitzilopochtli was something difficult if not impossible; on the other hand, Coatlicue, despite having some non-concordant aspects with the Virgin Mary, was able to be adapted in a local manifestation such as the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, due to racial factors (skin tone), aesthetical associations (the star skirt converted into a mantle), gender role (maternality of a divine being) and due to historical idiosincracies (such as the suffering brought upon by the colonization, which created the necessity of a more benevolent transformation of the goddess).
Conclusion
The spanish colonization arrived in a violent manner over Aztec society, and brought upon many changes in the matter of culture and social organization. Spanish society was theocratic like the Aztecs –but probably less-; Aztec society and religion shared with the catholic religion its ideas about the gender role of women, which was reduced to the home and child bearing, and therefore was not the cause behind the change. I think that more influence was exerted by the abuse and violence done by the conquistadores over the indigenous women, that accentuated machismo and hembrismo, which were already present before its arrival, by making slaves out of them and having no restrictions on the power over them.
Bibliography
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Alberro, Solange “Inquisición y Sociedad en México 1571-1700”, 1993, FCE, Mèxico
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