Women of the Pimería Alta-Gendered Violence

Credit to the Library of Congress

Gender-based Violence

The Spanish concept of male honor or status earned through violence, warfare and aggression dated back long before the conquest of the Americas. From the time of the Spanish Reconquista (Reconquest), there had been centuries of ongoing warfare between Spaniards and Moors from northern Africa. Throughout this period, male honor and status in Spanish society became linked to violence, warfare and aggression. This concept of male honor or “machismo” also played a part in the Spanish conquest of the Pimería Alta. Machismo was often expressed through violence, especially against indigenous people, and particularly, women.

As the mission system established itself across the Pimería Alta from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, so did Spanish ideas related to violence against women. As Spanish influence spread, so did the concept that using power and violence against women was normal, excusable and even honorable.

Along with the concept of machismo, Spanish colonization also carried perspectives that came out of the intellectual movement sweeping Europe at the time—the “Enlightenment.” The ideas of the Enlightenment, which considered women to be innately immoral, socially and spiritually inferior, and subordinate to men, heavily influenced the attitudes of colonists and missionaries. These misconceptions essentially excused violence against women. Cultural and social ideas about gender and the role of women began to take root in the communities of missions, presidios, and pueblos across the region.

The rates of reported domestic abuse, sexual assault, and killings of women by husbands, related men, and unknown men steadily increased throughout the Southwest from the 1700s until the 1850s. Many of these crimes were committed due to jealousy, or as a “crime of passion.” As Spanish colonization and missionization spread, more men, both indigenous and Spanish, became heavily influenced by machismo. Violence against women became normalized. In fact, during this period, many attempts to bring men to trial for these violent acts resulted in little, if any, justice.

While it is likely that incidents of gender-based violence also took place in indigenous communities prior to Spanish contact, colonization increased the violence suffered by women.