CHAPTER 12 WOMEN AND GENDER IN MESOAMERICA 443Figure 12.2 Ñudzahui husband and wife rulers sitting in an egalitarian fashion on the reed
mat. Reprinted with permission from Codex Zouche-Nuttall.Edited by Zelia Nuttall. Graz,
Austria: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1987, folio 25.
The Aztec Gender System
A different gender system from that of Mayas and Ñudzahuis characterized the Mex-
icas or Aztecs of Central Mexico. Their gender system combined gender hierarchy
with gender parallelism (men and women played different but parallel and equiva-
lent roles). With many written sources available for this time period, a more detailed
analysis of the gender system is possible. However, the authors of these documents
(mainly Spanish priests) projected their own preconceptions on the unfamiliar sys-
tems they encountered. Scrutinizing their biases and problems, researchers have
been able to sift through these documents in order to shed light on the lives of Post-
classic and Colonial Aztec men and women (Kellogg 2005).
Gender parallelism was rooted in the kinship structures and in religious and sec-
ular ideology. Men and women were genealogically and structurally equivalent. They
inherited property from both their fathers and their mothers, although the older
son acted as guardian of the property for his siblings. In the Aztec pantheon, male
and female deities were equally important, and deities often exhibited androgynous
characteristics. Both men and women had access to priestly roles, but women did
not retain this position for life as men did. Furthermore, men held the highest po-
sitions in the religious hierarchy.
Since women owned property and derived an income from their productive ac-
tivities outside the household (through spinning, weaving, healing, embroidering,
etc.), they maintained a measure of independence from their husbands (Figure 12.3).
Before warfare came to dominate their way of life, Aztecs did not consider women
as weak, dependent, or helpless. However, eventually bravery and skill became new