institution used in the distribution of goods. Socially, marriage allowed a man or woman to increase, maintain, or weaken their place within society. Women could only maintain their purity by engaging in sexual intercourse after being offered formal marriage. Unmarried women were not allowed to have private pregnancies to protect their honor and that of their family. Among elite women, sexual and other behaviors were strictly controlled, but among women of lower social class, relative freedom was allowed. Purity was a social value supported by Catholicism and Judeo-Christian faith ideologies that described the redeemer of sin as being born of a non-sexual, pure, virgin woman. Therefore, Christian femininity was linked to purity and advocated that women should stay at home while men should provide for the family. But as elite women achieved high social class, Christian femininity helped reinforce and rationalize the lack of honor and status held by the majority. Whether a Spaniard or an Indian, slave or free, honor was a set of ideas that separated a man's honor from that of a woman[footnoteRef:6]. Honor measured how well women and men performed their social roles. A woman's honor was defined by whether she remained sexually pure, while a man's honor was perceived by how well he managed to defend his daughters' virginity and his wife's fidelity. Therefore, the poor and enslaved widows of the indigenous middle class were less honored, which helped them maintain their social status quo of white elitism. Upper-class women did not work or leave the house. [5: Socolow, 160.] [6: Melanie,148.]Widows, single women, and those with absent husbands engaged in activities that kept them at home, while men interacted socially and sold products[footnoteRef: 7]. These economic activities limited direct entry into the public and, as a result, activities were permitted to individuals of the upper class. Additionally, lower-class women also worked in the fields in defiance of norms that allowed women to own property and business. Across all races, women were also engaged in trades, agricultural positions, served as merchants and grocers. In Mexico City, some women worked as maids and wet nurses while others were tobacco sellers. These working women were grouped together for verbal, physical and sexual humiliation and mistreatment due to the low honor given to them compared to the women who were protected. All of these factors influenced and complicated the lives of women in colonial Latin America. [7: Burkholder, Mark and Lyman Johnson. "Colonial Latin America." (OUP Catalogue, 2010),121.] Contribution of women in resisting patriarchy Women have deemed it worthy to resist patriarchy using techniques such as maintaining indigenous culture, religion and witchcraft. However, in the 16th century, a Spanish colony formed in Peru attempted to civilize the people living in Peru to adapt them to European values by destroying their culture. The Spanish colony brought accusations against the religious cult of women as witches[footnoteRef:8]. In an attempt to fight back, the women maintained their indigenous lifestyle. Through Spanish colonialism, patriarchal power increased as some indigenous men were given political ranks. However, the marginalization of the indigenous people continued and went under the radar, forcing non-Christians to flee to the mountains of Peru, where they resisted European culture and recreated the feminine and social ideologies that governed the world of theirancestors[footnoteRef:9 ]. This was a useful method of resistance, thus making the women representatives of the indigenous culture. They were able to maintain their ancient culture because they were offered no opportunity for political rise. [8: Irene Silverblatt, Moon, Sun, and Witches (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987), 32.] [9: Silverblatt,209.]Irene Silverblatt opened resistance to witchcraft to remain in the colonial period[footnote pageRef:10]. The fear associated with witchcraft was used by women to gain power. When the colonials went to Christianize Peru, the healing customs used by the women were seen as witchcraft. As a result, these beliefs led to an indirect gift of power. For example, Spanish men made strong social comments because they feared the unknown source of the healing power used by women. In exchange, women were given the opportunity to resist the colonialists and their religious views. In the colonial period, women of African descent also made powerful social commentary by manipulating religion. Ursula de Jesus, one of the religious servants, unlike other indigenous women of Peru, embraced religious beliefs to resist the patriarchy that oppressed poor and non-white people. He was believed to have the power of visions, so he used these visions to resist patriarchy. He used European faith to resist patriarchy in the church and rebuke those who held more power[footnoteRef:11]. Sor Juana de ka Cruz, also a religious woman, used the church to manipulate social values by becoming a nun and rejecting marriage and the patriarchy associated with it. By entering the convent, women were respected and acquired a certain sense of freedom. She resisted the patriarchy in marriage that loomed over her. Micaela Bastida Puyucahua played an important role in resisting the patriarchy of the home and the patriarchy of colonialism. She fell out with her husband Gabriel Tupac Amaru, which was dangerous in those days[footnoteRef:12]. To resist patriarchy at home, Micaela used the reflection and well-being of social values to resist patriarchy at home. [10: Silverblatt, 182.] [11: Nancy E. Van Deusen, “Ursula de Jesus; A Seventeenth-Century Afro-Peruvian Mystic,” in Kenneth J. Andrien, eds. The human tradition in colonial Latin America. (Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2002), 97.] [12: Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua, “Indian Revolt in Peru,” in June E. Hahner, eds. Women in Latin American History: Their Lives and Views (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1980), 35.] In the 19th century women faced the patriarchy of their own countrymen and not foreign invaders. As a result, women began to seek new techniques for managing resistance to resemble support from the home and state. At that time, patriarchy placed men above women and children. Independence did not solve women's problems as was believed. Women considered feminists only supported women's education. Intelligent women have become the best mothers to become mothers of good citizens. Education was directed at raising patriotic children who were beneficial to the state. Clorinda Matto de Turner wrote a novel to discuss the better life of women and indigenous people[footnoteRef:13]. In his story, he described the struggles between wealthy citizens, the landed elite, and indigenous peoples[footnoteRef:14]. He then began with an appeal on behalf of the poor. In the novel, he described that government officials left large and unwanted loans to the poor family, which were later demanded at a high interest rate. Otherfeminists like Francisca Senhorinha da Motta Diniz used education as a tool to gain rights[footnoteRef:15]. She called for women to use their intellect and moral beauty to claim the political right to vote and be elected to office[footnoteRef:16]. In her novel, Carolina Maria de Jesus attacks men and patriarchy[footnoteRef:17]. He rejected marital patriarchy by remaining celibate and revealed that most men cling to their wives for survival due to their poverty. He also rejects state patriarchy by saying that everything in the country, including democracy and politicians, is weak[footnoteRef:18]. She points out that her state always preaches democracy and equality, but does not keep these promises regarding the poor and the non-white poor. [13: Clorinda Matto de Turner, Torn from the Nest (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc, 1998), 67.] [14: Matto de Turner, 48.] [15: Francisca Senhorinha da Motta Diniz, “What Do Shall we?" in June E. Hahner, ed., Women in Latin American History: Their Lives and Their Views. (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1980)., 54.] [16: Senhorinha da Motta Diniz, 54.] [17: Carolina Maria de Jesus, Child of the Dark (New York: Penguin Group, 2003), 31.] [18: Maria de Jesus, 31.]During the Mexican Revolution, many women they acted to resist the independence of the patriarchy, and therefore worked as soldiers and camp followers. With the failure of the revolutionary regime, the memory of these women was lost. After the post-revolutionary regime, the modernization of the idea strengthened the patriarchy . Women adopted new techniques of resistance as the Progressive Era, but the government controlled education towards the interests of national development. Revolutionary leaders were cruel and harmful to the poor, because those who benefited from land, water, and justice were elite white men[footnoteRef:19]. This forced women to readjust their resistance through methods such as military force which maintained their role as protectors of culture and labeled as mothers. However, they were not given the freedom to fully exercise their rights and their promises were not kept. During left-wing regimes, women worked as spies, army generals, and soldiers. But men were reluctant to follow women's commands; therefore, they began to fight patriarchy from below under the control of men of lower status. Women began to demonstrate to men that they would be successful as leaders. Ana Julia even said that it was essential for men to know that women had earned the right to participate in the struggle[footnoteRef:20]. [19: Martinez, Pedro. “The Revolution”, by Pedro Martinez; A Mexican Peasant and His Family (1964), 88.] [20: Margaret Randall, “The Women in Olive Green,” in Sandino's Daughters, (Toronto: New Star Books, 1981), 133.]However, a true realization of women's equality has not been achieved. Unisex military comrades were destroyed because not because women were incapable, but some men had no experience fighting women[footnoteRef:21]. Other extremist governments, such as the military Proceso in Argentina, entered Latin American power[footnoteRef:22]. The group of Mothers of the Disappeared rose up in resistance to these governments. This women's organization has grown from a small group to an international group and joined other human rights organizations to publicize the plight of missing persons in the United States and Europe[footnoteRef:23]. Since the group was made up of women, it accepted the patriarchal perspective of, 2015.

Topic > institution used in the distribution of goods. Socially, marriage allowed a man or woman to increase, maintain, or weaken their place within society. Women could only maintain their purity by engaging in sexual intercourse after being offered formal marriage. Unmarried women were not allowed to have private pregnancies to protect their honor and that of their family. Among elite women, sexual and other behaviors were strictly controlled, but among women of lower social class, relative freedom was allowed. Purity was a social value supported by Catholicism and Judeo-Christian faith ideologies that described the redeemer of sin as being born of a non-sexual, pure, virgin woman. Therefore, Christian femininity was linked to purity and advocated that women should stay at home while men should provide for the family. But as elite women achieved high social class, Christian femininity helped reinforce and rationalize the lack of honor and status held by the majority. Whether a Spaniard or an Indian, slave or free, honor was a set of ideas that separated a man's honor from that of a woman[footnoteRef:6]. Honor measured how well women and men performed their social roles. A woman's honor was defined by whether she remained sexually pure, while a man's honor was perceived by how well he managed to defend his daughters' virginity and his wife's fidelity. Therefore, the poor and enslaved widows of the indigenous middle class were less honored, which helped them maintain their social status quo of white elitism. Upper-class women did not work or leave the house. [5: Socolow, 160.] [6: Melanie,148.]Widows, single women, and those with absent husbands engaged in activities that kept them at home, while men interacted socially and sold products[footnoteRef: 7]. These economic activities limited direct entry into the public and, as a result, activities were permitted to individuals of the upper class. Additionally, lower-class women also worked in the fields in defiance of norms that allowed women to own property and business. Across all races, women were also engaged in trades, agricultural positions, served as merchants and grocers. In Mexico City, some women worked as maids and wet nurses while others were tobacco sellers. These working women were grouped together for verbal, physical and sexual humiliation and mistreatment due to the low honor given to them compared to the women who were protected. All of these factors influenced and complicated the lives of women in colonial Latin America. [7: Burkholder, Mark and Lyman Johnson. "Colonial Latin America." (OUP Catalogue, 2010),121.] Contribution of women in resisting patriarchy Women have deemed it worthy to resist patriarchy using techniques such as maintaining indigenous culture, religion and witchcraft. However, in the 16th century, a Spanish colony formed in Peru attempted to civilize the people living in Peru to adapt them to European values by destroying their culture. The Spanish colony brought accusations against the religious cult of women as witches[footnoteRef:8]. In an attempt to fight back, the women maintained their indigenous lifestyle. Through Spanish colonialism, patriarchal power increased as some indigenous men were given political ranks. However, the marginalization of the indigenous people continued and went under the radar, forcing non-Christians to flee to the mountains of Peru, where they resisted European culture and recreated the feminine and social ideologies that governed the world of theirancestors[footnoteRef:9 ]. This was a useful method of resistance, thus making the women representatives of the indigenous culture. They were able to maintain their ancient culture because they were offered no opportunity for political rise. [8: Irene Silverblatt, Moon, Sun, and Witches (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987), 32.] [9: Silverblatt,209.]Irene Silverblatt opened resistance to witchcraft to remain in the colonial period[footnote pageRef:10]. The fear associated with witchcraft was used by women to gain power. When the colonials went to Christianize Peru, the healing customs used by the women were seen as witchcraft. As a result, these beliefs led to an indirect gift of power. For example, Spanish men made strong social comments because they feared the unknown source of the healing power used by women. In exchange, women were given the opportunity to resist the colonialists and their religious views. In the colonial period, women of African descent also made powerful social commentary by manipulating religion. Ursula de Jesus, one of the religious servants, unlike other indigenous women of Peru, embraced religious beliefs to resist the patriarchy that oppressed poor and non-white people. He was believed to have the power of visions, so he used these visions to resist patriarchy. He used European faith to resist patriarchy in the church and rebuke those who held more power[footnoteRef:11]. Sor Juana de ka Cruz, also a religious woman, used the church to manipulate social values by becoming a nun and rejecting marriage and the patriarchy associated with it. By entering the convent, women were respected and acquired a certain sense of freedom. She resisted the patriarchy in marriage that loomed over her. Micaela Bastida Puyucahua played an important role in resisting the patriarchy of the home and the patriarchy of colonialism. She fell out with her husband Gabriel Tupac Amaru, which was dangerous in those days[footnoteRef:12]. To resist patriarchy at home, Micaela used the reflection and well-being of social values to resist patriarchy at home. [10: Silverblatt, 182.] [11: Nancy E. Van Deusen, “Ursula de Jesus; A Seventeenth-Century Afro-Peruvian Mystic,” in Kenneth J. Andrien, eds. The human tradition in colonial Latin America. (Wilmington, DE: SR Books, 2002), 97.] [12: Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua, “Indian Revolt in Peru,” in June E. Hahner, eds. Women in Latin American History: Their Lives and Views (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1980), 35.] In the 19th century women faced the patriarchy of their own countrymen and not foreign invaders. As a result, women began to seek new techniques for managing resistance to resemble support from the home and state. At that time, patriarchy placed men above women and children. Independence did not solve women's problems as was believed. Women considered feminists only supported women's education. Intelligent women have become the best mothers to become mothers of good citizens. Education was directed at raising patriotic children who were beneficial to the state. Clorinda Matto de Turner wrote a novel to discuss the better life of women and indigenous people[footnoteRef:13]. In his story, he described the struggles between wealthy citizens, the landed elite, and indigenous peoples[footnoteRef:14]. He then began with an appeal on behalf of the poor. In the novel, he described that government officials left large and unwanted loans to the poor family, which were later demanded at a high interest rate. Otherfeminists like Francisca Senhorinha da Motta Diniz used education as a tool to gain rights[footnoteRef:15]. She called for women to use their intellect and moral beauty to claim the political right to vote and be elected to office[footnoteRef:16]. In her novel, Carolina Maria de Jesus attacks men and patriarchy[footnoteRef:17]. He rejected marital patriarchy by remaining celibate and revealed that most men cling to their wives for survival due to their poverty. He also rejects state patriarchy by saying that everything in the country, including democracy and politicians, is weak[footnoteRef:18]. She points out that her state always preaches democracy and equality, but does not keep these promises regarding the poor and the non-white poor. [13: Clorinda Matto de Turner, Torn from the Nest (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc, 1998), 67.] [14: Matto de Turner, 48.] [15: Francisca Senhorinha da Motta Diniz, “What Do Shall we?" in June E. Hahner, ed., Women in Latin American History: Their Lives and Their Views. (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1980)., 54.] [16: Senhorinha da Motta Diniz, 54.] [17: Carolina Maria de Jesus, Child of the Dark (New York: Penguin Group, 2003), 31.] [18: Maria de Jesus, 31.]During the Mexican Revolution, many women they acted to resist the independence of the patriarchy, and therefore worked as soldiers and camp followers. With the failure of the revolutionary regime, the memory of these women was lost. After the post-revolutionary regime, the modernization of the idea strengthened the patriarchy . Women adopted new techniques of resistance as the Progressive Era, but the government controlled education towards the interests of national development. Revolutionary leaders were cruel and harmful to the poor, because those who benefited from land, water, and justice were elite white men[footnoteRef:19]. This forced women to readjust their resistance through methods such as military force which maintained their role as protectors of culture and labeled as mothers. However, they were not given the freedom to fully exercise their rights and their promises were not kept. During left-wing regimes, women worked as spies, army generals, and soldiers. But men were reluctant to follow women's commands; therefore, they began to fight patriarchy from below under the control of men of lower status. Women began to demonstrate to men that they would be successful as leaders. Ana Julia even said that it was essential for men to know that women had earned the right to participate in the struggle[footnoteRef:20]. [19: Martinez, Pedro. “The Revolution”, by Pedro Martinez; A Mexican Peasant and His Family (1964), 88.] [20: Margaret Randall, “The Women in Olive Green,” in Sandino's Daughters, (Toronto: New Star Books, 1981), 133.]However, a true realization of women's equality has not been achieved. Unisex military comrades were destroyed because not because women were incapable, but some men had no experience fighting women[footnoteRef:21]. Other extremist governments, such as the military Proceso in Argentina, entered Latin American power[footnoteRef:22]. The group of Mothers of the Disappeared rose up in resistance to these governments. This women's organization has grown from a small group to an international group and joined other human rights organizations to publicize the plight of missing persons in the United States and Europe[footnoteRef:23]. Since the group was made up of women, it accepted the patriarchal perspective of, 2015.