To the Young Women of Malolos

In analyzing portrayals of women, it is appropriate to begin with the character of Margarita. For, within the text, she embodies the traditionally masculine traits of bravery, resilience, and violence as a means of liberating herself from an existence of abuse and victimhood. Even more, the woman plays upon stereotypes of femininity in order to mask her true nature. The reader witnesses this clever deception in a scene where the character endures a “wholesome thrashing” from her huge, violent, and grizzly bear-like husband, Guerra (81). Although Margarita “[submits] to the infliction with great apparent humility,” her husband is found “stone-dead” the next morning (81). Here, diction such as “submits” and “humility” relate to the traits of weakness, subservience and inferiority that are so commonly expected of women, especially in their relationships with men. Yet, when one

In Spain and the Spanish colonies in South America in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, gender roles were distinct and the opportunity gap was enormous. Catalina de Erauso compares the two roles through her memoir, “Lieutenant Nun,” where she recounts her life as a transvestite in both the new and old world. Through having experienced the structured life of a woman as well as the freedom involved in being a man, de Erauso formed an identity for herself that crossed the boundaries of both genders. Catalina de Erauso’s life demonstrates the gap in freedom and opportunity for women, as compared to men, in the areas of culture, politics and economy, and religion.

Throughout history men have been leading the battles, conquering worlds, discovering new lands, but behind every good man is a good woman! So, as I read this week, I learned an enormous amount of information about the diversity of the different roles women play according to where they might live or what era they grew up in. I will address the rights that women had, how they are viewed in society, the comparison between these women and the ones from the New Testament, the evidence to support my claim.

In colonial Latin America, one aspect of life that was constantly under attack and had to be guarded at all costs was the ideal of one's Honour. Women in colonial Latin America had to especially be on their guard to protect their honour, as an unanswered attack to their honour could ruin a family's honour. But if a woman's honour was attacked there were ways for her to protect it. The honour women possessed at the time was said to be not as important as the honour of a man, but it is, in fact, more important then the man's. By using Richard Boyer's document Catarina Maria Complains That Juan Teioa Forcibly Deflowered Her and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera's document Scandal at the Church: Jose de Alfaro Accuses Dona Theresa Bravo and Others of

In “Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Transvestite in the New World” by Catalina de Erauso, a female-born transvestite conquers the Spanish World on her journey to disguise herself as a man and inflicts violence both on and off the battlefield. Catalina discovers her hidden role in society as she compares herself to her brothers advantage in life, as they are granted money and freedom in living their own lives. Erauso decides to take action of this act of inequality by forming a rebellion, as she pledges to threaten the social order.The gender roles allotted to both men and women in the Spanish world represent the significance of societal expectations in order to identify the importance of gender in determining one’s position in the social order in the Spanish World.

Catalina de Erauso’s memoir, Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World, depicts gender relations in the early 17th century Spain. Erauso, through her detailed narrative of personal encounters with transvestism, reveals significant implications of the roles and expectations of the gender binary during this era. Her memoir evidently portrays gender binaries in dress, emotion, and interaction within society as she describes aspects of her journey from the perspective of both a woman and man. The male gender exhibits idealized masculine qualities, such as being violent and spontaneous, and the female gender exhibits idealized feminine qualities, such as emotional suppression and tranquility. Erauso expresses the distinct

In most history books, Pancho Villa is depicted as a often cruel but always fearless and cunning leader who courageously fought the dictatorial behavior of Porfirian Diaz in the Mexican Revolution. And some of this is certainly true. The great majority of reports and undocumented stories of Pancho Villa's epic struggles against injustice are all about males, but authors Anna Macias and Elena Poniatowska record the fact that women were a big part of the Mexican Revolution and that Villa was a viciously bloodthirsty scoundrel when it came to women and young girls. In order to set the record straight, Macias and Poniatowska present the writings of three women who ably report involvement of women in these moments in history; for example: a) there were women fighting on the side of Villa and his revolutionary band of warriors; and b) "hundreds of thousands" of women "of every class, were among the victims and casualties" of the conflict.

Sor Juana’s identity as a woman both shaped her life and defined her work. She was barred access to a formal education due to her gender and had limited autonomy regarding what the choices she could make for herself as a young woman. Scholars note that, “[d]ue to her aversion to marriage, Sor Juana’s only other

In this essay, I will argue Catalina de Erauso’s experiences in Peru both confirm and challenge the expectations placed on masculine and feminine honor in early colonial Spanish America. For women to be considered honorable in colonial Spanish America, they either became nuns or they married and became women of families. (Milstead Lecture, 10/26/17) This meant they either devoted themselves and their virginities to the church and God or they devoted themselves to their husbands and children. An example of dishonorable women in colonial times were prostitutes. In the book Lieutenant Nun, de Erauso finishes her story with a threat to the harlots she encounters on the streets of Naples. “… and a hundred gashes with this blade to the fool who

Anna’s story shows that women did have some rights, and that they also had, at least in this case, the ability to defend those rights within legal institutions. Even more important is evidence of public opinion, instead of siding against Anna as an unfit daughter causing trouble for her family Hall’s citizens actually sided with Anna against her father. In this, both daughter’s obedience to father and woman’s obedience to man were turned on their heads, revealing that regardless of religious doctrines of male authority, life among the people was much more complex.

The next requirement for being a “true woman” was submissiveness. According to society men were superior to women by “God’s appointment.” If they acted otherwise they “tampered with the order of the Universe” (Welter 105). A “true woman” would not question this idea because she already understands her place. Grace Greenwood explained to the women of the Nineteenth Century, “True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependant; a perpetual childhood.” Even in the case of an abusive husband, women were sometimes told to stay quiet

     In consequence of these bad treats, women try to find different ways that in their point of view were a way out to reveal their need and discontents with man. One way for women to express their dissatisfaction was become part to the Convent, it provided an especially opportunity to achieving self-expression and freedom from male domination and sexual exploitation for elite and middle-class women. In the convents women display their capacity for leadership in administration, management of resources, and a way to create a social life by receiving visitors. An example of these ways out to society is “Sor Juana,” according to Keen and Haynes’s book Sor Juana’s intellectual brilliance made it difficult for her to find a suitable marriage partner, in consequence she decide to become part of a Convent. This same experience was common for one or more daughters of an elite family in every day life

Heroes, kings and presidents, for so long men are the protagonist of the stories. Across the world and through the centuries, women have always been situated below men. Women were considered the weak sex, they are portrayed as delicate, obedient, naive and passionate. “Never trust in women; nor rely upon their vows” (44). As the wives of the kings on The Arabian Nights, whose passion brought them to cheat on both their husbands. They ended up being executed because they threatened the kings’ power. Or bringing danger into the families, as the wives of Kasim and Ali Baba, who wouldn’t think of the consequences of their actions and would act by the pure instinct of greed and naiveness. Yet, seldomly acknowledged, women have had to step up to fix troubled situations, the few stories told of women of scarce resources who have manage to triumph over the standardized society. This not only shows how women take advantage of the resources at their reach but how their

1 Timothy 2:11–15 states: “11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 for Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” 1 Corinthians 14:33–35 states: “33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their

With the speaker’s use of metaphors and Greek allusions, the idea of constancy in failed relationships is reworked to combat the misogynistic conception of female inconstancy. In Joan Kelly’s “Early Feminist Theory and the ‘Querelle des Femmes,’ 1400–1789,” she claims that female querelle writers “reject[ed] the distorted image of women” (Kelly 20) in religious texts and amatory poetry because women were often depicted as capricious “creatures” that men could not trust to be