Testaments of Autonomy: How Women's Social and Economic Mobility Transformed Under Nahua and Spanish Influence

Did European gender values undermine the autonomy of Indigenous women in colonial Mexico? This article will answer aforementioned question by examining women’s lives Mexico during period from approximately 1500 to 1800. Close analysis last wills and testaments left behind Culhuacan sixteenth century demonstrate that they enjoyed greater avenues social mobility than did Toluca seventeenth eighteenth centuries. inform readers evidence drawn these cultures significant conclusions it generates. An examination two separate corpuses Mexican exposes variances under Nahua Spanish influence centuries, respectively. Prior invasion, culture gave economic autonomy. Certain pre-Hispanic privileges, such as holding public offices, were still conserved at end 16th century. However, a gradual replacement with structures was nearly complete 18th diminished But no matter how much their independence decreased, all could what had.