Gender Roles In Aztecs

Most gender roles have begun to fade away, however certain roles still remain prominent, especially in various religions. In the most common religions of today, women hold subordinate roles. In Christianity and Islam, women are not allowed to be the head of the religious temple. Many ancient societies did not follow similar theology. Mesoamerican societies, such as the Aztecs, trained women for high priestess positions, and the pre-colonial Igbo people of Nigeria had influential female deities. Until the spread of Christianity and Islam in the Americas and Africa, these continents contained many matriarchal religions and tribes. At the time of the first conquests of America, Europeans recognized differences in the roles of women in Aztec society, as opposed to European women. This difference was especially highlighted in the roles of women in religious practices. The European Christians believed that women are not ordained to be the head of the church. In the Aztec state, “The daughters of the nobles attended the calmecac (school for the elite) and could become priestesses” (Eber and Kovic). Similar theologies were …show more content…
Islam and Christianity, making up over half of the religious affiliations in the world, have very similar commands against women religious leaders (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life). In Christianity, this command commonly comes from I Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12; “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence” (New King James Version). In Islam, this idea comes from the Koran, “that it is not permissible for women to lead men in prayer” (Elias). Both religions base their ideas of patriarchy on texts written in the early Common Era. As time progress, more secular churches and mosques reinterpret these ideas in the Bible and the Koran, respectively; however, these religions tend to stay very