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Welcome To The World Of Pre-Columbian Women
Rarely do Pre-Columbian studies or texts
focus much attention or detail on the role of Women in
Ancient America: their role in society; their labors; their
place in family; their health; and the frequent abuses they
suffered in Pre-Columbian Cultures. The purpose of
this site, is not to be a comprehensive document on the
subject, but rather to provide an introduction to the
subject, and a guide to select writings and other websites,
that can provide more in-depth focus.
For those new to the subject,
Pre-Columbian America refers to the regions in the American
continents, and the Isthmus between, before the influence of
the Europeans (prior to 1500 CE/AD). It refers to the
indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of
Mesoamerica, North America, and the Andes regions. The term
"Pre-Columbian" can indicate the time from the arrival of
humans on the American continent (before 14,000 BCE/BC) to
approximately 1500 CE/AD. However, it is commonly used
for the cultural periods from about 4000 BCE to Conquest.
This site will mainly focus on
societies right before the arrival of the Europeans - Aztec,
Mayan, Andean (Inka and others), and briefly North America.
It will focus on women's role in the Maya and Aztec
civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Inca culture from South
America, and North American in general.
In these societies, like in any other
society, women play important roles. From domestic
activities to political power. They take care of their
children, prepare food for the family, and weave textiles.
However, women's roles differ from region to region, some
having a position in the market and others maintaining
essential position in religion and politics. However,
in some cultures women held a role as object, trade good,
slave, and subject of horrific ritual brutality.
Women's Role in the Mayan Civilization
In the contemporary Maya society of Zinacantan, Mexico, it
is said that "man produces the raw materials, and women
transforms them into objects of use and consumption." This
complementary gender role is applicable to the gender role
of the ancient Maya. Most of the roles women of
ancient Maya society are inferred only from the elaborate
burial and ceremonial sites of the Maya - from their glyphs,
elaborate murals, steles, vases, and other burial offerings.
Women in the Maya society, like any other civilization, had
everyday roles in the care of the household, and their
families. They raised animals within the household, prepared
food for the family, and made clothing & textiles.
Daily village life for Mayan Women
Along with the roles in
everyday activities, women played an important part in
religion. As girls, they were trained and taught how to
serve religious shrines, and participate in ritual practices
of their religion. In addition, there is evidence that some
elite women took part in politics.
Mayan Societal Hierarchy
Women's Role in Maya
Society
In everyday life, in the
household, women played an essential role. Firstly, they
were mothers, raising children. Also, it was their role to
prepare and cook food for the family. In fact, as Maya
society depended on deer meat, it was typically the women's
responsibility to manage the supply of deer. There is
evidence that deer were domesticated by the Mayan household,
raised by women for men to kill and butcher. Not only that,
women wove textiles, which was important not only for
domestic use, but as a trade good - an essential aspect in
Maya society. It is not known whether all women wove
textiles, but it appears that all textiles made were
produced by women.
Craft and fiber evidence
from the buried city of Ceren - buried by volcanic ash in
600 C.E.- show that women's textile work was not only a
normal part of domestic life for specific household
purposes, but had its position in the marketplace as well.
Women in Maya society had a critical role in crafts,
producing valuable commodities for outside consumption.
Also in Maya society,
women seemed to have participated in both politics and
religion. This is confirmed by the discovery in Guatemala of
a 2 meter high limestone monument that depicts a woman of
authority in that ancient Maya city. This portrait could be
either a ruler or a mythical goddess. Archaeologists from La
Trobe University in Australia state that, "This stele may
date from the late 4th century AD, making it as much as 200
years older than previously discovered monuments depicting
powerful Mayan women. We have images of queens, who ruled
singly and with their husbands and sons, depicted on stelae
later in Maya history beginning in the early 6th century AD.
But this stele is completely unique in style and likely
dates to the 4th century AD. It's unique in that it shows a
woman in a really early period in Maya history, a period
when the city states were being founded and dynasties were
being instituted." This shows that women played
important roles in the phase when the Maya states were being
established.
While there are few
actual writings on the subject, it is clear that slavery was
practiced. Slaves were gathered, as was as captured as
a result of conquest. What is not well known is the
role and treatment of female slaves. If they were
treated similarly to male captives, then that treatment
would have been far from ideal. However, it was likely
that female slaves were used in large part as domestic
servants, as was done in more modern times.
Women's Role
in the Aztec Civilization
The Aztec society was a patriarchy, a male dominated
society, ruled by kings and noble loads. Thus, women in this
society were considered subordinate of men, possibly even
property. As a result, women had little chance to take part
in government and religious activities. However, in
daily life, people had clear division of roles between men
and women. While men worked in the fields and fought in wars
or took the job of his father and became tradesmen, women
stayed at home and put their efforts into domestic duties
like childbearing, weaving, and cooking. Women were
educated for these activities from young ages. Aztec girls
were taught at home the skills necessary for marriage; they
began spinning at four and cooking at twelve. However,
housework was not the only role of the women. Aztec women
not only helped in weaving textiles and taking care of the
home, but also included themselves in the work force,
working as merchants, traders, scribes, courtesans, healers,
and midwives.
Typical daily life for Aztec
Women
Women's Role in
Aztec Society
Women in the Aztec society played an
essential role in maintaining the household. They learned
the skills to be a good housekeeper; acquiring abilities
concerning childbearing, weaving and cooking. However, they
also had a place apart from the everyday house work. For
instance, they could be merchants aids that organized and
administered expeditions for trade (it is not known whether
they could themselves go on the trade expeditions).
Also, common women of this society were also offered
opportunities in trade goods: they could sell what they made
in the marketplace and gain some wealth for their families
as a result. They provided raw and prepared food, cloth, and
other items in the market. It is said that women in the
Aztec society even held places as official arbiters to
resolve disputes that arose in the marketplace. In addition,
women became skilled healers and diviners. Documents from
the time of the Conquest indicate that the women healers
were more highly skilled than contemporary Spanish doctors.
An Aztec Midwife Aiding in a
Birth per Codex Florentine
An Aztec Marriage Ceremony
per Codex Mendoza
Aztec Instructions for
Raising Children as Good Citizens
A typical back-strap loom - an
older woman instructs a younger woman
Aztec woman preparing a meal
Aztec Women serving a meal
In general, Aztec marriages were
monogamous, however, there is ample evidence that marriages of
multiple wives occurred as well (see below). However,
the Aztec culture did not place the same value on
individuals as our modern culture, and in many cases (it
appears) women (wives and daughters) were offered to visiting guests, as well as
for sacrifice. The worst of the voluntary offerings of
women for sacrifice was the ritual of Xipe Totec - where a
young girl or woman would be offered by her family to the
Aztec priests - raped by the Aztec priests, then skinned
alive - after which the priest would wear the woman's skin
in a ritual of transformation.
An Aztec figure of a priest
wearing the flayed skin of a woman.
The priest's hands, legs and neck are colored red.
Dońa Marina (Malinche)
Dona Marina was originally a woman of
the Aztec Nahuat culture, encountered by Cortez. She
may have been a servant, slave, or outcast in some way,
liberated by Cortez. As his companion, she became a
Catholic, and played an active and powerful role in the
Spanish conquest of Mexico, as an interpreter and an
advisor.
Most of what is reported about
her early life comes through the reports of Cortez's'
"official" biographer, Francisco Lopez de Gomara, which
seems far too romantic to be entirely credible, but there is
no evidence to the contrary. Although she was not a literate
"Pre-Columbian" woman (as most women appeared not to be), by
exploring at the role of Dona Marina, one can get an idea of
the role of women in Pre-Columbian America at that time.
Malinche was born into a noble family.
However, when Marina's father died, her mother gave her away
or sold her into slavery. Marina traveled in captivity from
her native Nahuatl-speaking region to the Maya-speaking
areas of Yucatan, where she learned the different Maya
languages. When Hernan Cortes came to this region, the local
people offered he and his men hospitality, food, clothing,
gold, and slaves, including 20 women. Marina was one of
these women slaves. Cortez noticed her difference, and with
her intelligence, and ability to interpret with great
efficiency, she earned Cortes' confidence, became his
secretary, and then his mistress, eventually bearing him a
son. She facilitated communication between Cortes and
various Mesoamerican leaders, often actively encouraging
negotiations instead bloodshed. Marina was the principal
player in building a coalition of city-states that
eventually lead to the fall of Tenochtitlan. It is no
understatement to believe that without her, Cortez could not
have conquered the Aztecs.
Dona Marina had an important role as
an interpreter, secretary, mistress, and mother of the first
"modern Mexican." However, she was far from a typical woman
of her time. Empowered by Cortez, she demonstrated her
worth and ability in a way few or no other contemporary
woman could have.
Reinterpreting
Malinche
»
Women's Lives in
Aztec Culture
Originally, women wove and worked only
for their families, but as chiefdoms and small kingdoms
developed, the local rulers began to demand tribute (taxes),
largely demanded in the form of cloth, which was
manufactured almost exclusively by women. Then, as the Aztec
culture and empire spread, people were forced to pay more
and more in tribute to the Aztec leaders, which could be
paid in labor or military service by men and in cloth and
other goods by women. The women's cloth was typically made
from agave fibers and was in high demand as commoners were
allowed nothing else to wear. As the politics of Aztec
culture became more complex, the demand for tribute
increased, and men began taking additional wives so that
more cloth could be produced by more hands. Documentation
suggests that this led to strained and poor relationships
within the family compound. Female slavery also increases as
a result.
The Aztecs waged war for gain, as they
needed sacrificial victims, tribute, and slaves. Women
slaves performed household tasks, especially weaving,
freeing the Aztec women for other tasks. Female slaves were
also used as concubines and mothered children who also
became slaves. Eventually the demand for cloth tribute
became so high that men also began to spin--the most
female-identified task in ancient Mexico. Women and men
continued to make cloth until the colonial period when the
Spanish built textile mills, forcing the men and not the
women, because of the Spanish gender roles, to work in cloth
production.
Studies of artifacts of weaving and
cooking in and near the Aztec capital and has lead to the
conclusion that women adapted their weaving as the demand
for more and more tribute increased; they changed spindle
size and shapes and changed what and how they cooked in
order to feed their families, who were in need of
increasingly portable food, as they might labor away from
home.
Women in the Aztec
Workforce
Apart from domestic roles, women in
the Aztec empire could be merchants, and trades people in
the marketplace.
Women also worked as prostitutes and
courtesans, but they do not seem to have been social
outcasts as a result. It has been shown that the Florentine
Codex, it depicts the prostitutes negatively, from the
perspective of the European mindset. In fact, the Aztec
courtesans served young noble warriors and danced with them
at ritual celebrations, suggesting that they had an elevated
status in their own society. The Europeans criticized these
women for bathing, painting their faces, and wearing
brightly colored clothing, signs of a fallen European woman,
rather than as behavior executed by all the Aztec women,
whether prostitute or not.
Aztec women might also be healers or
midwives. Although the Spanish tried to quell the religious
parts of the midwives' practices, believing it at best
distracted from the one true Christian God and at worst that
it was witchcraft, they were still impressed by the
midwives' skill. Documents from the Spanish accounts
indicate that the women healers were more highly skilled
than European doctors; however, as most accounts are written
by elite Spanish men, they gloss over or do not describe at
all the techniques that the women used. Thus, much of the
cultural knowledge of these women was lost, especially as
the Spanish began to repress the religion of the Aztecs and
prosecute and persecute women healers as witches. Aztec
medicines, made from native plants, are documented to have
been able to bring on menstruation or to hasten labor. Aztec
women may also have pioneered in prenatal care, as records
indicate they began ministering to pregnant women in their
seventh month.
There is even evidence that at least
one Aztec woman, likely a daughter of a noble family, was a
scribe for an emperor. It is likely, too, that the noble
Aztec women would have needed scribes and would have thus
used females to act as their secretaries and bookkeepers.
Women's Role in the Andean Inca Civilization
Women's roles in the Inca Culture differed from that of both
European women and those in the Aztec culture at the time,
in that those women existed for the benefit of men. In
Inca society, women had much different roles from men, but
these roles were considered as complementary to those of men
and a necessary part of the society. In fact, women played
an essential role in the Inca society. Their primary role,
as always, was to raise and take care of children, take
charge of household duties, including: cooking, weaving
cloth, working in the fields, and spinning. But they
also worked right beside men in other activities for which
they were suited, from agriculture to public works.
Before the conquest,
the Inca household was an autonomous socio-economic unit,
indicating that there was much freedom for the individual
family, including women. An example is the evidence of
skeletal analysis of this period, which shows that women in
this period consumed food in similar quality and quantity as
men. This can be interpreted as women having equal
participation in community and domestic life. In
addition, women in the Inca civilization played a large role
in religion, controlling the cults of the goddesses (unlike
Aztec culture where men controlled religion). However, after
the conquest, women's social position was lower than that of
men's (typical of Spanish culture of the time), and began to
exclude women from its rituals and government.
Women's Role in
the Inca Society
Women in Inca society
were not required to work for government public works
projects, or perform "mit'a", which was a requirement for
every man in the society. However, this does not mean that
women did not play a role in working for the government or
on such projects. In fact, women were to weave one piece of
clothing every year to put in the government storehouses
(this was not so much a tax, and a community contribution
for the community benefit - these storehouses were public
resources for the benefit of all). Also, in some cases, they
followed their husband on his mit'a, where they cooked,
carried heavy burdens, and helped him with many of his tasks
as possible.
In everyday life, a
women's main role included taking care of the children,
cooking, housekeeping, and weaving cloth. But along with
these tasks, women participated in the filed work together
with men, especially during the sowing and the harvesting
season. When the men plowing punched holes into which women
sows (plants) corn seeds - in fact, this was a normal
ritual, believing that women (the life bringer) ensured a
successful crop. During the harvest, women performed heavy
labor alongside their men - carrying bundles of stalks, cut
by men, to be stacked to dry. Furthermore, women
produced flour by grinding corn and sweet potatoes, and wove
cloth by spinning and weaving cotton or wool.
Inca women working side by
side with men
Men and women plowing the
fields together.
The men use the foot plow, called taclla; the women break up
the clods of earth.
Another woman brings corn chicha to drink
The Inca Chosen Women
Chosen
Women in the Inca society, otherwise called Acllacunas, were
identified as the Virgin of the Sun, and had important
economic and cultural roles. They formed a special class in
the society and lived in temple convents under a vow of
chastity. They lived apart from their families and
communities, and their duties included the preparation of
ritual food, the maintenance of a sacred fire, and the
weaving of garments for the emperor and for ritual use.
The Inca's
officials selected girls of 10-years of age with great
talent and physical beauty to become Acllacunas. Once
selected, they were kept in their temples, not allowed to
leave for six or seven years. During these years, these
girls received formal education from "Mamaconas", who were
chosen women themselves. The girls learned not only to weave
and skillfully make clothing worn by the nobles, as well as
the robes and elaborate hangings used on state occasions.
They were also taught the preparation of special foods and
"chichi" (a beverage used in religious ceremonials).
When these
girls completed their training, and reached 16 years of age,
they were divided in to classes based on their degree of
beauty and served the state in different ways. The most
beautiful and highly born became concubines of the Inca
Emperor. Some of the girls that most matched the Inca ideal
of perfection were selected to be sacrificed in honor of the
sun. While others were interned for life in one of the
convents, where they acted as temple attendants and became
Mamaconas themselves in time. Others became wives of nobles
or military commanders.
However,
majority of Chosen Women served as weavers and food
producers in Inca provincial centers, as they were taught to
do. They provided the textiles of llama and alpaca cloth,
which was an essential part of Inca life. Because the Incas
used these textiles as payment to the army, or as gifts for
nobles and local leaders in conquered areas, Chosen Women's
produce were crucial. Additionally, the Chosen Women also
contributed food and chichi for citizens performing
mit'a.
The level
of social status for the Chosen women was generally great,
and they enjoyed many advantages in their society. They did
not to perform hard labor, even though voluntary for women,
in the fields, and enjoyed a lifetime supply of food and
clothing, with whole estates dedicated to their needs.
However, they were denied the support and contact of their
families as well as the opportunity to participate in daily
social life. Those who married could not select their spouse
and those who did not marry lived secluded from the rest of
society, in a state of perpetual chastity. The Incas posted
guards at these most important separate compounds, and did
not permit entry to outsiders. The Inca state guarded and
trained the Chosen Women because they played an essential
part in maintaining the cohesiveness of the society.
The Ńustas (Inca noble women)
Inca Noble Woman's dress
Women were an integral part of every
aspect of society during the Inca reign. Their role in that
society was very different from that of women in most
European societies at that time, and because of this, much
of the evidence regarding the role Incan women played is
distorted by the views and prejudices of the Spanish
conquering men who wrote about the Inca Empire, or
Tahuantinsuyu (Four Kingdoms). However it is possible to
reconstruct the world of women in Incan society because of
the large variety of sources about the Incas written by
Spanish chroniclers during or immediately after the
conquest. It appears women in Incan society had a
distinctly separate role from men, and that this role was
viewed as complementary to the role of men and a necessary
component of their society. This was true in all facets of
Incan life including religion, politics, family, and
economics. It also appears that women in Incan society had
more autonomy and power than most of their Spanish &
Pre-Columbian counterparts. Because of this the Spaniards
had a hard time relating Incan society accurately in their
chronicles. The Spanish didn’t understand one of the most
important aspects of Incan society, their true gender roles.
Women had a dual or complementary role
in Incan society because of their religion. The Incas,
like many of their Andean predecessors, viewed the cosmos in
a way that emphasized what they saw as the duality of
nature. The Incan people believed that the god Viracocha
was the creator of all things. Viracocha was hermaphroditic
in nature, being first male and then female. Stemming from
Viracocha were the Sun, or the male, and the Moon, the
female. These two were siblings as well as spouses and gave
life to the other gods and goddesses as well as to man and
woman. From the Sun extended Venus Morning, Lord Earth,
and Man. From the Moon extended Venus Evening, Mother Sea,
and Woman. Venus Morning was equated with the Sapa Inca
himself (the ruler of Tahuantinsuyu), Lord Earth symbolized
the male nobility and headmen, and Man symbolized the male
commoners. A parallel chain of authority for women stemmed
from the Moon goddess. Venus Evening was the Coya, or queen
of the Inca, Mother Sea was the female Incan nobility, and
Woman the female commoners. Stemming from each of these
chains were also parallel kinship chains of men and women,
in which some men and some women (with the Sapa Inca and
Coya coming first) had authority over other men and women,
and so on.
Because of this dual role within the
cosmos and the parallel chains of authority, men controlled
the cults to the male gods and women controlled the cults of
the goddesses. The Coya, who was believed to be the
daughter of the Moon, headed the cult of the Moon. The
Sapa Inca headed the cult of the Sun, and was believed to be
his son. Women priestesses stemmed down from the Coya in
the same way that male priests extended from the Sapa Inca.
Women priestesses wielded power as the heads of these
cults. This is because the goddesses of Incan cosmology
controlled earthly fertility and human procreation, both of
which were integral to Incan agricultural society. Women
also had their own royal ancestral cults. Coyas were
mummified just like the male Incan rulers and were
worshipped, and attended in the same way, meaning they were
also treated as though still alive and they retained their
estates even in death. (Similar to the way Egyptian kings
were honored in death.)
The duality of Incan religion was so
complete that even the temples of the Incan goddesses
paralleled those of the Incan gods. Statues, as well as the
mummies of Incan Coyas, were made of the Incan queens and
placed in the temple of the Moon in the same way that
mummies of male Incan rulers were placed in the temple of
the Sun. The Moon Temple was decorated in a fashion
similar to that of the Sun Temple. It was paneled entirely
in silver, as opposed to the Temple of the Sun which was
covered with gold. It
contained a likeness of the Moon with a woman’s face, while
the Temple of the Sun contained a likeness of the Sun with a
man’s face. It was served exclusively by female
priestesses, or mamaconas, who were chosen either because
they had unusual births or who were selected from the acllas,
which were religious and secular institutions and education
centers. Mamaconas also had their own houses of residence
where they prepared garments for the Sapa Inca and idols,
made food and drink for religious festivals, and were waited
on by other high ranking girls of Incan society.
Unlike other Pre-Columbian cultures,
Chosen Women had schools in Cuzco like those of the men
where non-Cuzcan girls were sent to learn the trades of
womanhood, and Incan lore, as well as the appropriate skills
and tasks of government service. These schools were called
acllawasi, or house of the chosen women. Spanish chroniclers
thought of these institutions as an Incan version of a
nunnery. Acllawasi were an exclusively female institution
in Incan society. Once a year an Incan agent inspected
villages of the empire to choose the girls who would be sent
to the acllawasi or who would become immediate human
sacrifices. The girls chosen for the latter duty were part
of crucial state rituals and ensured the power of their
fathers, most of whom were headmen, because with the
sacrifice of his daughter the father gained the right to
pass his title down to his son as well as the special favor
of the Sapa Inca. Most of the girls selected for immediate
sacrifice or to become acllas were ten to fourteen years of
age (similar to the Aztec Xipe Totec ritual). The virginity
of these girls was closely guarded in the acllawasi until
their future was decided by the empire’s ruling elite. If
one of the girls were found to have lost her virginity, “she
would be given the death penalty, and it would be carried
out by burying the girl alive or by some equally cruel
death”. If they were to become an aclla, which was a
strictly secular occupation, they were separated from their
communities of origin and housed in acllawasi in the capital
of each province. By doing this, the aclla women were
turned into full subjects of Cuzco because they were no
longer thought of as members of their original communities.
Once in an acllawasi the girls were
taught women’s tasks such as spinning, weaving, and chicha
making. The cloth made in these institutions was highly
valued because of its bright colors and fine weave. The
chicha produced was also highly sought after because it was
said to be some of the best in Tahuantinsuyu. The girls
were also thoroughly indoctrinated into Incan ideology so
that when sent to their various destinies, would serve the
interests of the Inca whether consciously or unconsciously.
The acllas were organized
hierarchically, with the basis for this organization being
physical perfection, as the Incas visualized it, and the
rank of the girl’s family of origin. Thus there were
several different types of acllas who would serve the Inca
realm within their various destinies.
It was based on this system that
prestigious girls were chosen to be chaste priestesses of
the solar or imperial cults. These priestesses, the
virginal wives of the Sun, called mamaconas, served in a
religious capacity as well as educating newly arrived
girls. The mamacona women were wed to the various gods
they were to serve in solemn ceremonies and afterward were
considered to be wives of those gods (similar to Catholic
Nuns). Occasionally the Sapa Inca would visit one of these
institutions to indulge himself with the women. The guards,
who were old men, would then confront the Sapa Inca who
would confess that he had sinned and the matter would be at
rest. These women were generally considered to be saints
by the rest of the populace and wielded much power because
of their proximity to Incan gods. Despite this, some of
these women had more importance than others within the
various cults, especially in the cult to the Moon, the wife
of the Sun. One woman, who was often one of the Sapa Inca’s
sisters, headed that cult. She governed it in all matters
whether religious, economical or other. Thus women had
much influence over religious and other matters.
The rest of the girls selected each
year were to perform other roles. Another role that the
prestigious girls could be chosen for was to be secondary
wives of the Sapa Inca. The lower ranking girls served less
prestigious gods or goddesses. Some of the lower ranking
girls were also given as rewards to men who had pleased the
Sapa Inca. It was through the aclla system that the men of
the empire were linked to the Sapa Inca by loyalty. This
was because the men would serve the interests of the Sapa
Inca if their daughters were taken to an aclla, since it was
an honor, or if they were given women as gifts, which was
also an honor. In this way, women were a powerful tool for
the Incan state.
The Inca Queen, and through her,
women, had her own religious celebrations also. For one
month out of every year, the entire empire deferred to the
Incan queen and to the Moon goddess, or "Coya raymi". This
was meant to symbolize the new agricultural cycle and the
beginning of the rainy season. It was during this time that
any and all female concerns within the realm were given
voice, and Men were subordinated during this period.
The Coya was also an important
political figure in Incan culture. The selection of an
Incan Coya was very similar to that of the selection of the
Sapa Inca himself. A potential queen had to show that she
was capable of leadership and responsibility before marrying
the Sapa Inca, to whom she was usually related. If the
candidate failed to do this, she was removed from
consideration. Also, if a woman proved unfit to rule after
she became queen, she could be removed from her position
(usually by death). An example of this circumstance was the
first Coya of Capac Yupanqui. Some time after their
marriage she went insane, so Capac asked the Sun god for
permission to marry, as his primary wife, another woman who
would be capable of performing the duties of the queen.
Once made Coya, the queen also received her own estates and
her own palace, which was almost as large and sumptuous and
the Sapa Inca’s.
The political power of women flowed
down from the Coya in a chain parallel to the one extending
from the Sapa Inca. It began with the Sapa Inca and Coya at
the top, moved to the nobility of Cuzco, to the non-Incan
Cuzco nobility, to several ranks of provincial nobility, to
local ethnic leaders, and finally ending with any commoners
who possessed positions of authority in an "ayllu", or
community unit (village). Moreover both women and men,
according to Guaman Poma, were entitled to varying degrees
of services, herds, and estates based on their ranking
within this system with the Sapa Inca and the Coya at the
top. This illustrates the link between the political power
of women, and the Coya, to economic power.
However Coyas had power over all
subjects at times. Queens ruled in the absence of the Sapa
Inca. If the Sapa Inca went off to war, the queen served in
his stead in every way. Another important aspect of the
queen’s role related to the Inca’s privy council, which was
composed of men from the four principal capitals of the
Incan state. If the council could not come to agreement on
an issue, it was turned over to the queen. After she made a
decision it was final, and accepted by the Sapa Inca as
such. Thus the Coyas could and did make important
governmental decisions, which would have had very far
reaching effects.
Three Coyas were known to be
especially powerful in the history of the Incan people.
These were Mama Huaco, Mama Ocllo, and Mama Anahuarque. All
of these women wielded significant power as well as advising
their sons and husbands about government. This is
especially interesting in light of the fact that these women
were married to three of the most prominent kings (Incas) in
Incan social history, Manco Capac, Topa Inca, and Pachacuti.
From these examples it is evident that the Coya of the Incas
had more power than most of her European equivalents, who
were, in most cases, merely a means for a king to produce an
heir.
However the majority of the Incan
queen’s authority centered on other women. All women paid
obeisance to the queen in the same way that men paid
obeisance to the Sapa Inca, even kissing her hand in the
same way that men kissed the king's. During festivals the
queen of the Incas would give and receive reciprocity from
provincial leaders and lower-ranking members of the Cuzco
nobility. She was expected to be very generous on such
occasions, and these reciprocity ties were completely
separate from those of the Sapa Inca. She “was able to bind
others into a web of obligation through which power
relations were articulated.” Therefore the Coya had her
own power base in the Incan realm based on these ties in the
same way that the Sapa Inca himself.
The Coya also had authority over
women’s marriage rights. It was her responsibility to marry
the female subjects of the empire to the male subjects. She
had two hundred ladies in waiting whom she often married to
men who either the Sapa Inca or herself wanted to reward or
tie to their dynasty. The Coya was also responsible for
seeing to the education of the young Cuzcan female nobility
and the daughters of local leaders. This helped cement the
bonds between the Coya and the varying ranks of Incan
nobility as well as the women of the provinces, who by state
design, would be Incan educated.
As illustrated by the importance of
marriage to the queen’s power, marriage ceremonies and the
relationships themselves were extremely important to the
foundation of the Incan state. When an Incan couple
married, certain ceremonies had to be observed, including
asking the permission of the Sapa Inca’s agent. These
marriage rites, whether performed for a rich, noble couple
or for a poor, peasant couple, “celebrated the formation of
a new unity made up of equals.” The rites were accompanied
with gift giving, which was supposed to be done on an equal
basis to show that one partner was not above the other or
that the kinship group of one was not above the kinship
group of the other partner. Typically these gifts consisted
of clothing, with the amount being determined by the
couple’s wealth.
Within their marriage, an Incan couple
would view their contributions to the relationship and the
household as complementary but equal, which is what the
ceremonial gifts illustrated. Andean culture already
determined for a newly married couple what types of duties
were appropriate for the man and the woman. “But in any
case, the division of labor was never so strict as to
prohibit one sex from doing the other’s task if the need
arose. Andean gender ideologies recognized that women’s
work and men’s work complemented each other.” The
indigenous peoples knew that in order for their culture to
survive the work done by both sexes was essential, as was
the interplay of that work between the two. Thus the
contributions of women, from the Coya to the lowest peasant
were recognized as essential to the survival of the society.
One of the duties of common women in
Incan society was to weave. As already stated, this was an
important task for women to learn when in the acllas.
However it was important outside of those institutions as
well. A common adult woman was almost always spinning
whether she was watching her children or talking with her
husband or neighbors, or even while walking. It was the
obligation of a woman to make sure that her entire family
was clothed and this required a lot of work, especially once
there were children to make clothing for. However this was
not the sole duty of an Andean woman. She was also
entrusted with chicha making, cooking, helping her husband
prepare fields for farming, planting seed, harvesting,
weeding, hoeing, herding and carrying water. While in many
societies these were the duties of women, in Incan society,
unlike others, these tasks were not considered to be simply
domestic tasks for the husband’s benefit only. The
contributions of women were recognized by Incas for what
they were, essential labor for the continuance of the
household, community, and finally for the state.
Another area, other than goddess
cults, in which Incan women had undisputed authority, was
that of child rearing. Women were expected to take
exclusive care of children in Incan families. A woman was
also responsible for doing her share of the complementary
work to that of her husband up until giving birth to the
child and was expected to resume that work soon afterward.
Children were considered to be the source of wealth for any
Incan family and therefore was the primary responsibility of
most women in Incan society. This ensured the future of
that society.
Clearly, Incan Women had their own
power networks in Incan society in politics and religion.
They had their own cults, which they headed and which were
worshipped by all members of society. The Coya had her own
system of reciprocity, estates, and cult after her death.
She had authority over marriage rights. Acllas, which were
composed entirely of women, were important institutions in
the Incan realm because they reinforced the loyalty of the
subjects to the state. Mamaconas were important female
power tools because they dictated religious observances and
educated future acllas and mamaconas. Common women were
responsible for some of the most important aspects of Incan
life and survival, including weaving, agriculture, and child
rearing.
Women's
role in Pre-Columbian North America
Native American women in North America
traditionally belonged to a culture that gave them respect
and where they had power, autonomy and equality. North
American Pre-Columbian societies were not so based on a
hierarchical system and there were fewer divisions between
men and women. The work of the two genders often differed,
but there was no value of one over the other. These women
were respected and valued for their contribution to the
survival of their families and communities. Their knowledge
of plants, their ability to cure and preserve food, and
their counsel in political matters was greatly valued.
Pre-Columbian North America women in general, had an
important role in the society, as they were givers of life
and gave birth to their culture's children, educated the
children, and provided a substantial portion of the food for
the family. Also, there were some matrilineal societies in
Ancient North America, such as the Iroquois, where women
provided leadership as well. In such societies, women held
positions in societal governmental, civil, and religious
offices.
The common duties of North American women were cleaning and
maintaining the living quarters, nursing children, gathering
plants for food, grinding corn / grain, extracting oil from
acorns and nuts, cooking, sewing, packing and unpacking
camps in the case of the nomadic peoples. They were also
responsible for producing certain crafts such as: brewing
dyes, making pottery, and woven items (cloth, baskets, and
mats). They also made, or substantially aided in the
making of the shelters that were their homes - either by
making the Teepees, weaving the materials for stick or grass
houses, or other shelters. They were also frequently
the healers of their cultures.
In some areas, women were influential
in tribal councils and cast the deciding vote for war or
peace. For instance, in the Cherokee society, women were
considered equal to men and women could become "Beloved
Women", who spoke and voted in their society's General
Council. Leading the Woman's Council, they prepared
and served the ceremonial Black Drink; served the duty of
ambassador of peace negotiations, and could save the life of
a prisoner already condemned to execution. Likewise, the
Cheyenne women had an important role in the deciding to wage
war or not.
Pocahontas
One of North America's iconic native
women was Pocahontas, a Native American woman that lived in
the late 16th, and early 17th century, who married an
Englishmen, John Rolfe, and became a celebrity in London in
the last years of her life. She was the daughter of
Powhatan, who ruled a large area in present-day Virginia.
Because of the modern Disney animated fantasy movie,
Pocahontas (1995 film), the revisionist view of Pocahontas
is as a peacemaking hero that stopped war between the Native
Americans and the Europeans, and a powerful women that had a
great role in her society. However, this image of Pocahontas
is largely fabrication from the movies and John Smith's
writings. It is true that she was a daughter of Powhatan, a
chief, but it is not certain if she held any high social
rank. While women could inherit power in Powhatan society,
Pocahontas could not have done so, because the inheritance
of power was matrilineal, and Pocahontas' mother was of
lower class. Pocahontas correctly shows that women in some
North American societies could have political roles, but at
the same time shows that there were restrictions as well.
The Pre-Columbian
Woman's World
Women's common roles in
all the societies within Pre-Columbian America included
housekeeping, raising children, preparing food for the
family, and weaving textiles. In addition to these duties,
depending on the region, some women participated in
political, economic and religious activities. Some of the
North American cultures were matrilineal, where women often
had power in politics. Also, in societies such as Maya and
Aztec, women participated in the market by manufacturing
cloth. Women's role in Inca was somewhat different from that
of other societies, for women in Inca society had a duty and
real power.
What is significant is
that women in Pre-Columbian America had comparatively
important roles in their society compared to other regions
of the same period, such as China, Japan, Korea, and Europe.
They had distinctly separate roles from men, but rather than
being viewed as inferior to men (at least in the Inca
culture), their roles were considered as complementary to
the role of men and a necessary component of their society.
Additional Reading:
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