Prior to the Spanish Colonialism in the Andes, the native women were known to be integral figures to society. Women were well protected under the Inca Empire. Due to their religion and beliefs, the Andean men saw the women as partners in what they call “the business of life"[1] Both, men and women, shared equal power and influences in the society such as: religion, politics, economics, and labor. They held titles in their community such as “high priestess and curacas," who owned land and fortunes independently from men and were highly respected by the members of the society”[2]. Though Andean society was a hierarchical patriarchy, it was not as extreme as the Spanish patriarchy, and women occupied a complimentary, rather than subordinate role to men.
During Conquest Period:
Andes
During the 1530s, the Spaniards took over Peru. After their conquest, The Spaniards began introducing their beliefs and traditions to the Andean natives. Spaniards had a patriarchy ruling and they implemented this style throughout their conquered lands. The Spaniard style of ruling allowed for the Andes women to be gradually removed from their position in society. They were vacated from their land, original roles in their community and the freedom of political and economic rights.
Andean women experienced theft of their land, forced to abandon their traditions, adopt marriage exogamy, labor exploitation and experienced sexual and physical abuse due to the Spanish gender conception[3]. This initiated the Andean Women Passive Resistance Efforts.
Andean Women Passive Resistance Efforts:
Ande Women took matters into their own hands to survive and protect their love ones during the Spanish Colonialism.
The following illustrates the Passive Resistance Efforts taken by the Women of the Andes:
South AmericaAndean Women escape the crippling labor exploitation of their rural village by migrating to colonial centers. In these large towns, women were free of tribute expectations and were able to become independent market women.[4]
Other women decided to migrate seasonally between rural villages to avoid tribute payment[5]
Andean women used many ways of saving their children from the same physical and economic exploitation such as:
Native midwives secretly provided women with contraceptives, helping return a measure of personal power to women (Powers 178)
They committed census fraud, claiming that their children were mestizos on baptismal records. This protected the children from tribute demands as the native were the only ones required to pay tribute (Powers 178)
Some mothers mutilated their infant sons to render them useless for tribute. A colonialist priest found evidence of this action
Rarely, but also found as true, some women even practice abortion or infanticide (Powers 178)
Andean women protested, very formally, the loss of their legal and economic rights under colonization
Women that were robbed of their land took the Spanish colonist to court. Most of the cases were loss; however, the very act of legal resistance was motivated by their passive resistance (Silverblatt 120)
Conclusion:
Their Passive Resistance Efforts led the Andean women to perform other resistance techniques such as: legal, violent, and religious resistance.
↑Powers, Karen Vierra (2005). Women in the Crucible of Conquest. New Mexico Press. p. 17. Search this book on
↑Kellog, Susan (2005). Weaving the Past: A History of Latin America's indigenous women from the pre-Hispanic period to the present. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 41. Search this book on
↑Silverblatt, Irene (1987). Moon, Sun, and Witches: Gender Ideologies and Class in Colonial Peru. Princeton University Press. p. 131. Search this book on
↑Powers, Karen Vierra (2005). Women in the Crucible of Conquest. 66: New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press. Search this book on
↑Ramirez, Susan Elizabeth (1996). The World Turned Upside Down: Cross- Cultural Contact and Conflict in 16th Century Peru. 35: Stanford: Stanford University Press. Search this book on
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