The Role of Woman during Ancient Latin AmericaBY: CHERI-LEE STEYN

For This presentation I will speak about the more known ancient Latin American cultures.

The Aztecs: • The Aztec woman had various roles

in her life and in Aztec society.

• While Aztec men were war oriented, the Aztec women were not.

• Most Aztec men were led to conquer other territories and being away from his home made it impossible to live without the help of an Aztec woman, who would be more highly considered by all the better she was with domestic chores.

• In this way the Aztec women had what would be considered a traditional female role in society

The Aztec’s: Woman & Men• Clothing and jewellery was important

for an Aztec woman and they adored bright coloured clothing and lots of shiny jewellery. There were certain restrictions to jewellery that were actually reserved for the noble women and this was even enforced by law in ancient Aztec society.

• Materials such as gold, feathers, and precious stones made a woman more desirable, and therefore noble women wanted to be the most desirable.

• The Aztec woman would wear her hair long and straight, and it was only the priestesses who cut their hair short or bald to symbolize their chastity.

• For an Aztec woman to be desirable to an Aztec man, she relied solely on her cleanliness. She also followed a strict code of behaviour. She had to be modest, demure and very simple, and simplicity for an Aztec woman meant no make-up.

• Wearing make-up was actually reserved for the Aztec prostitutes, therefore most Aztec women would not even consider it.

The Aztec’s: Woman & Jobs• Aside from the major role of home keeper women in Aztec society had other options

should they wish to pursue them. Some Aztec women would also be venders or merchants in the market, they could sell food, or clothing, materials and even decorative items.

• Aztec women could also choose to be a courtesan or prostitute, they were from all reported not treated with any negativity or as outcasts as they commonly danced with brave warriors.

• In every society there are curers and midwives, and in Aztec society this was generally a woman’s job. Historians commended the Aztec Healers to be better than European doctors of the time, but religion made the Spaniards destroy any historical findings about the methods and cures that were used, and many of the Aztec methods of healing and medicine were unfortunately labelled as witchcraft.

• For noble Aztec women there was a little more choice and option in their jobs and roles, as they would be able to serve emperors as secretaries, or scribes, or even as bookkeepers, and general administrators.

The Incas• In contrast, during the Wanka 3

period (1460-1532 CE), after the Incas imposed their government, potatoes disappeared and corn was processed in larger quantities.

• There was a more restricted crop deposition in patios, also, suggesting that the Inca state began to govern households, meaning there was less freedom for the people, including women. The Wanka people lost social status, and the amount of labor increased.

• Skeletal remains of this period show that both men and women consumed increased levels of corn, but the men also showed increased levels of meat. This may have been because the government's creation of WORK parties, attended only by conscripted men, used food and drink as a reward.

• This shows that the social position of women was lower than men's following the conquest, as they began to be excluded from the state rituals.

The Inca’s: Woman That Were Chosen

• Like the Aztecs, the Incas had a continually increasing demand for cloth, so they created a system where women, the traditional makers of cloth, labored for the state. One was that this system WORKED was to isolate some women from the household, so that they could devote themselves to serving the state. The acllahuasi, or House of Chosen Women, developed under the Incans in Peru at about 1438-1532 CE. Each major town had one of these houses, staffed with a number of women who remained chaste and served the state and its religion.

• Every year, a government official would inspect the ten-year-old girls in the town, conscripting those who were extremely good-looking. these girls were then educated in the capital, under full guard. The best looking of the girls were set aside for sacrifice, while others LEARNED TRADES, like spinning, cooking, or brewing.

• At the end of four years, these girls would be reassigned as concubines of the ruler, as wives of men the ruler wanted to honor, or as permanent residents of the acllahuasi. Apparently, upper class women were more often given the administrative positions in the acllahuasi, while lower class women handled the labor.

• This system allowed for some upward mobility by some of the lower-class women, as they might be able to make good marriages. It was not all moonlight and roses, though, for most of the lower-class women: the ones who were not sacrificed and remained in the acllahuasi, were bound to be chaste for their lifetimes. If a one of them was found to be not chaste--i.e., one of them became pregnant--then she and her lover were buried alive.

The Inca’s: Woman In the Workforce• Incan women might have been workers in

weaving shops, which were overseen by men, even though weaving was traditionally a female occupation.

• Women might also have been prostitutes or courtesans, but Incan women prostitutes were social outcasts and could not even reside near or have contact with female non-prostitutes. they lived in houses under a supervisor who was appointed and paid by the government.

• Like the Aztec women, Incan women could also be healers and midwives, and they were known to be able to induce abortions.

• The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica (a term used to describe Mexico and Central America before the 16th century Spanish conquest).

• Unlike other scattered indigenous populations of Mesoamerica, the Maya were centered in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas; and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador.

• This concentration showed that the Maya remained relatively secure from invasion by other Mesoamerican peoples.

The Mayans

The Mayans: Woman & their Roles.

• Ancient Maya women had an important role in society: beyond propagating the culture through the bearing and raising of children, Maya women participated in economic, governmental and farming activities. The lives of women in ancient Mesoamerica were not well documented: "of the three elite founding area tombs discovered to date within the Copan Acropolis, two contain the remains of women, and yet there is not a single reference to a woman in either known contemporary texts or later retrospective accounts of Early Classic events and personages at Copan," writes a scholar.

• Women play a very important role in rituals, cooking food for consumption and sacrifice. Whether women participated in said rituals is unknown. Women also worked on all of the textiles, a very important resource and product for Maya society.

• The status of women in Maya society can be inferred from their burials and textual and monumental history. Maya societies include Toniná, a city which developed a matrilineal system of hereditary descent after the reign and death of the powerful leader, Lady K’awil. She had assumed the mantle of power after the failure of the two male leaders.[2] Lady K'awil's reign is documented by murals that depict her seated on a throne with captives at her feet.

The Mayans: Gender Roles• Men and women performed separate but

equal tasks: "males produce[d] food by agricultural labour, but females processed the products of the field to make them edible." In addition to raising deer when necessary, women had religious responsibilities related to household rituals. Women held important daily roles in this aspect of life. While young boys were being taught hunting skills, "the girl was trained in the household, and she was taught how to keep the domestic religious shrines.”

• Women were associated with the ritual practice of religion, as well as the beliefs themselves. The Moon Goddess is one of the most prominent gods in the Maya pantheon. Through her relations with the other gods, she produced the Maya population. The local rulers claimed descent from the Moon Goddess.

• Gender in ancient Maya art is ambiguous; it is difficult to ascertain the gender of some figures simply because one couldn’t survive without the other[citation needed]. In some images of heir recognition, this duality is explicit: there is a male figure on one side of the newly-anointed, and a female figure on the other side.

Bibliographies: WEBSITES:

• Mexicolore.co.uk,. 'Aztec Women'. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.

• Wikipedia,. 'Women In Maya Society'. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.

• Www2.ivcc.edu,. 'Aztec Women'. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.

• Www2.ivcc.edu,. 'Incan Women'. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.

PICTURES:• 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Aztec. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Aztecs. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Aztecwoman. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Bonampak. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Clothing. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Inaconquest. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Incas. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Incawoman. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Legendsandchronocles. 2015. Web. 11 June

2015.• Lostinaempire. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Maxicolor. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Mayaexposed. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Mayanculture. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Mayanwoman. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.• Themayans. 2015. Web. 11 June 2015.