The Mesoamerican People's View of Gender Equality as Highlighted in The Book Mesoamerican Voices

While reading, Mesoamerican Voices I was amazed to learn how complex a culture existed among the different tribes of Mesoamerica. They had an incredible political infrastructure before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers and even after the Spanish had arrived and taken over the territory many of the tribes maintained their political power and were allowed to govern themselves by the Spanish leaders. This was unique to me as my previous experience examining colonialism had examined almost exclusively North America and the way that the British treated the Native American tribes of the United States was much more severe than the Spanish had treated the Mesoamerican peoples. That isn’t to say that the Spanish only treated the Mesoamerican people well; like any story of colonialism, the Mesoamerican peoples faced a large amount of abuse and torment from their colonizers, but it does show that the Mesoamerican tribes had built an incredibly complex and progressive society, because I don’t believe the Spanish would have granted that power unless they viewed it as somewhat necessary.

Part of the reason for this was simply because there was so many people in Mesoamerica at the time. These tribes were some of the largest groups of indigenous people to ever exist. Some areas the tribes lived in were the most densely populated of an indigenous people, which necessitates a thorough and effective government. This proved an advantage for the Mesoamerican tribes, because the Spaniards were forced to allow them to govern themselves, even as the Spanish slowly took over. Essentially the leaders of the each Mesoamerican tribe were the political authority of any given area, but they had to report to a Spanish supervisor. This allowed the political leaders of each tribe to defend and protect their tribe when the Spanish attempted to take advantage of them, most clearly seen in a letter written to the Spanish king in which Mesoamerican nobles requested justice and a reduction in taxes and labor that the tribes owed to Spanish. Unlike the indigenous people in most examples of colonialism, the Mesoamerican tribes retained a good amount of power and had an actual political relationship that was uniquely respected by the colonizers.

I was also amazed at progressive gender relations were among the Mesoamerican tribes. Women were not treated as second-class citizens in any way and there was a seemingly equal respect for both genders. Gender shaped the responsibilities of the natives, but they were not concrete or inflexible responsibilities. Women held important roles as producers and vendors in the markets and as healers among the community. Both men and women could own property and in marriage, property and belongings were kept separate so neither was allowed to take the others property in case of a divorce. Reading wills from this time was fascinating, because it showed the true freedom that women had. One woman specified in her will that none of her money or belongings was to be transferred to her husband, because he hadn’t supported her at all in life. She had actually loaned him money that he never paid back. Women were allowed to initiate criminal and civil suits, which included inheritance disputes and wife-beating. I have a gained tremendous respect for the Mesoamerican people noble enough to have gender equality as one of their defining social characteristics.