The status of women in Mexico has changed significantly over time. Until the twentieth century, Mexico was an overwhelmingly rural country, with rural women's status defined within the context of the family and local community. With urbanization beginning in the sixteenth century, following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, cities have provided economic and social opportunities not possible within rural villages. Roman Catholicism in Mexico has shaped societal attitudes about women's social role, emphasizing the role of women as nurturers of the family, with the Virgin Mary as a model. Marianismo has been an ideal, with women's role as being within the family under the authority of men. In the twentieth century, Mexican women made great strides towards a more equal legal and social status. In 1953 women in Mexico were granted the right to vote in national elections.
Urban women in Mexico worked in factories, the earliest being the tobacco factories set up in major Mexican cities as part of the lucrative tobacco monopoly. Women ran a variety of enterprises in the colonial era, with the widows of elite businessmen continuing to run the family business. In the prehispanic and colonial periods, non-elite women were small-scale sellers in markets. In the late nineteenth century, as Mexico allowed foreign investment in industrial enterprises, women found increased opportunities to work outside the home. Women began increasingly working in factories, working in portable food carts, and owning their own business. “In 1910, women made up 14% of the workforce, by 2008 they were 38%”.
Mexican women face discrimination and at times harassment from the men exercising machismo against them. Although women in Mexico are making great advances, they are faced with the traditional expectation of being the head of the household. Researcher Margarita Valdés noted that while there are few inequities imposed by law or policy in Mexico, gender inequalities perpetuated by social structures and Mexican cultural expectations limit the capabilities of Mexican women.
In Linda A. Curcio-Nagy research paper,Female Agency and Scandal: Doña Josefa de Angulo in 17th-Century which dates back to Mexico City in the 1600s, mistreatment of women under New Spain colonial reign is explored through a scandalous trail. The paper follows the life of Doña Josefa de Angulo in regard to an Inquisition trail that was brought forth due to the mistreatment of women at The Recogimiento de la Magdalena. Josefa was married to Juan de Vilches; however, he sent her to Recogimiento (a kind of home for "wayward women") because she could would not conformed to patriarchal norms and was considered disobedient. The paper by Curcio-Nagy covers the details of scandal, society in Mexico City, and colonial male patriarchal religious influence and how Josefa’s actions demonstrate female agency and a challenge to gendered norms in colonial New Spain.
As of 2014, Mexico has the 16th highest female homicide rate in the world.
History
Pre-Columbian societies
Maya
The Mayan civilization was initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD). According to the consensus chronology of Mesoamerica, many Mayan cities reached their highest state of development 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 alliancesSocolow, S. M. (2000). The women of colonial Latin America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Although the majority of these women had few political responsibilities, these women were vital to the political fabric 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 include many scenes with a female participating in various public activities and genealogies trace male rulers' right to power through female members of their family.
Women could not own or inherit land. They owned what were considered 'feminine goods', which included household objects, domestic animals, beehives, and their own clothing. Women could bequeath their property, but it was gender specific and was usually not of much financial value.
Aztec
The term 'Aztec' refers to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly 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 prepared from birth to be wives and mothers and to produce tribute goods that each household owed. Each girl was given small spindles and shuttles to symbolize her future role in household production. Her umbilical cord was buried near the fireplace of her house in the hope that she would be a good 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 considered the ideal state for women. It is estimated that as many 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 allowed to inherit property, their rights to it were more to usage rights.Kellogg, Susan. (1986). Aztec Inheritance in Sixteenth-Century Mexico City: Colonial Patterns, Prehispanic Influences. Duke University Press. Property given to children was much freeing where it could be bequeathed or sold.
Spanish conquest
When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Mexico, they needed help 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 most 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. Though Doña Marina was useful to Cortés, he was “reluctant to give 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 men surrounding her and was originally intended to sexually please the soldiers.Alves, A. A. (1996). Brutality and benevolence: Human ethology, culture, and the birth of Mexico. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Pg 72
Like Malinche, many women were offered to the conquistadors as an offering because both cultures viewed women as objects to be gifted to others.Tuñón, J. (1999). Women in Mexico: A past unveiled. Austin: University of Texas Press, Institute of Latin American Studies, p 16. Since few women traveled to the New World, native females were considered a treasure that needed to be Christianized. It is 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.Alves, A. A. (1996). Brutality and benevolence: Human ethology, culture, and the birth of Mexico. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.74
Spanish era
The division of social classes was essential and such divisions were expressed through the attire worn by individuals. Elite and upper-class women could afford 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.Ilarione, ., Miller, R. R., & Orr, W. J. (2000). Daily life in colonial Mexico: The journey of Friar Ilarione da Bergamo, 1761-1768. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, p 92. Regardless of the social status of Indian women, she would dress in compliance with Indian customs. Wealthy women were able to purchase superior materials for clothing.
The importance placed upon social class caused purity of blood to become a factor in regards to marriage. Women were affected by these policies as it was required for both men and women to submit documents proving their racial purity. European men sought elite Mexican women to marry and have children with, in order 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 able to defend their purity and had to rely on men from the community.Martínez, M. E. (2008). Genealogical fictions: Limpieza de sangre, religion, and gender in colonial Mexico. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, p 174
Regardless of social class, women in eighteenth century Mexico City usually 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.Socolow, S. M. (2000). The women of colonial Latin America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p 61
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.Socolow, S. M. (2000). The women of colonial Latin America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p 166
Mexican War of Independence and early republic 1810-1850