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Aztec women’s occupations

19th Mar 2024

Aztec women’s occupations from codices

At the 7th annual London Nahuatl Study Day (2024) Dr. Elizabeth Baquedano suggested that Aztec (and Mesoamerican) women generally did more than women in Europe at the time. Images from Mexican codices appear to back her up on this... (Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

In the collage of codex images shown here, you can see women in the following roles:-
• Scribe • Poet • Queen • Deity impersonator • Midwife • Doctor • Soothsayer • Musician • Weaver • Market manager/trader • Matchmaker • Professional mourner • Agricultural worker • Priestess • Warrior (of last resort...)
We agree with Elizabeth...!

Late entry! • Boatwoman on Lake Texcoco!

Picture sources:-
• Oh don’t ask - too many to list........

Comments (2)

Daniel

20th Mar 2024

Yes, I understand, although I think it would have been better to show the images that were seen in other codices of Nahua women with clubs and shields defending themselves. I think that’s where you can tell more that they’re warriors, since the image of 6-monkey may not be very clear to people who aren’t familiar with the way the codices are illustrated.

Mexicolore

Thanks for this excellent suggestion. We will try to swap the image as soon as we can find time...

Daniel

20th Mar 2024

The image used to depict a female Aztec warrior is actually the Mixtec queen 6 monkey. As far as I know, Aztec women did not go to war, they only participated in war as a last resort.

Mexicolore

Well spotted! You’re right, for Mexica women it was a last resort. You can learn more about this - and meet Mixtec Queen 6-Monkey - in our feature here - https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/writing/the-bottom-line-in-mexican-codex-writing.
But taking things in the round, we included the Mixtec example since Dr. Baquedano was speaking of Mesoamerican women in general, even though the immediate context was Nahua. We want people to realise that Mesoamerican women enjoyed a wider range of career opportunities than their European counterparts at the time, and this included warriors and rulers. We hope this seems reasonable, valid and worthwhile...

Aztec women’s occupations from codices