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Commemorating Women’s History Month

We recently came across this book that really shook us: La Mujer Azteca by the Mexican archaeologist and anthropologist,  Maria J Rodriguez. Throughout history, it’s been known that women in different cultures have been left behind from many opportunities; from education to political representation. By reading this book we found out how in Aztec culture, the place of a girl was to be a housewife. Anytime there was the birth of a girl, the initial ceremony was to bury her umbilical cord in the center of her home, symbol that she belongs to her home and the words to welcome her to the world were that she was born to serve her family, her husband and her children (compared to when a boy was born, he was destined to do great things: to be a great warrior or a great leader). Their role was supposed to be submissive. It was documented by Sahagun that girls were severely punished if they were bad behaved. 

The main purpose in women’s life was to cook, to learn to weave and take care of their homes. They say that even though their chores included grinding cocoa, they were not allowed to drink it. They didn’t have access to any formal education; some of the trades, besides weaving and cooking, were related to healing with herbs or assisting other women during childbirth. Even though they were knowledgeable in some health issues, they were considered lower in rank compared to a male doctor, who had “formal education”. 

Reflecting on this book, we have seen great progress on how women have access now, not just to education but also to political influence where they are even able to be in leadership positions. However, there were many aspects that made us think how culturally and economically, in most rural areas in latin-american countries, it remains the same way as in ancient times. We have seen girls who may get pregnant at very young age because of lack of education, rape or lack of opportunities. They quit school and they are far behind to access any formal job. Their only choice to become self-sufficient is through entrepreneurship, trading, selling their own crafts or cooking food for others. We strongly think that we should support these girls from a very young age to break this cycle, give them opportunities for education and other tools to have a better life. Our hope is to get more people and government leaders involved to break this cycle. 

This is Berenice, she lives in a small town in Hidalgo, Mex. We came across her and we really admire that despite her young age and being a young mother, she is a very hardworking woman. She sells pralines and nuts at her local market. We gave her some seed capital to keep growing her microbusiness, that way she can keep sustaining her family.

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