442 UNIT 4 MESOAMERICAN CULTURAL FEATURES
legitimacy from the ancestry of both their fathers and their mothers, although pa-
trilineal descent was favored and, some authors argue, the accession of women to rul-
ing positions indicated dynastic weakness. Noble men also dominated the religious
sphere; women participated in rituals but did not act as religious functionaries. Al-
though clearly androcentric, Mayan public art still repeatedly presented male/fe-
male pairs, thus stressing the underlying interdependence of both genders for the
survival of society.
Among Mayan commoners, greater gender complementarity probably existed
given the essential contribution of both genders for survival. Living in extended
households, men hunted and farmed, and women prepared foods, wove, raised small
animals, and cared for the children. At the household level, both noble and com-
moner women actively participated in the economy, providing food, textiles, and
other necessities for household consumption and exchange (Joyce 2000).
The growth of urban centers and the intensification of warfare toward the late
Classic Period increased the power of the nobility and reinforced male dominance,
since the business of politics and war was exclusively in the hands of Mayan men.
Some authors argue that despite these changes, the labor of both noble and com-
moner women continued to be important, as it was indispensable, not only for sur-
vival but also in market exchanges and for paying tribute.The Mixtec Gender System
A more egalitarian gender system, based on complementarity, prevailed among the
Postclassic Ñudzahuis or Mixtecs (Kellogg 2005). In their imagery, the Ñudzahuis
do not use gendered images to portray gender hierarchy, female subordination, or
military or class relations. Instead, their imagery conveys gender complementarity;
for example, the term for rulership yuhuitayucombines elements referring to the
reed mat (yahui) and the married couple (tayu), who were always portrayed sitting
on a mat, in egalitarian fashion (Figure 12.2).
Both women and men could be rulers. Female succession was relatively com-
mon, and when both husbands and wives inherited official positions, they jointly
ruled the polities that each inherited. Noble women who were not rulers also had im-
portant responsibilities in political and religious realms. For example, women were
priestesses. In the division of labor, noble women supervised the production and ex-
change of crafts goods. Commoners replicated the complementarity of noble men’s
and women’s political roles in their daily lives. Commoner men and women inher-
ited property from both parents and could pass it on to their children without pool-
ing it under a male authority.
As with Mayas, men and women also complemented each other in their roles.
Mixtec men planted, transported goods, and undertook communal labor projects;
women spun and wove, prepared food and drink, and gathered plants for food and
ritual needs. Both private and public spaces were valued with no apparent hierarchy
in the importance of work performed in either realm. After the Spanish invasion,
women in Ñudzahui society increasingly lost ground, and gender hierarchy became
more pronounced.