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CONCLUSION

Indigenous women have possibly been the most exploited of all populations in society (Smith). The Inca

Empire gave women a valuable role in society by providing them equality and spiritual importance. The

presence of duality in the Andean Cosmovision represented women and men as half and equal, something that

brought great success to the culture. The Spanish inquisition brought on great oppression and violence

towards indigenous women, forcibly changing the gender structure of society using Christianity to justify

misogyny. Under Christianity, women were no longer allowed to practice as priestesses, forever limiting what

once was a main part of their lifestyle and culture. Women challenged colonization by a series of various

rebellions, including fleeing to punas, refusing baptism and Christian mass, and male infanticide. This caused

women to be newly viewed as inferior and unsaved by God. This ideology transformed throughout the years

into the immergence of machismo culture in Latin America, solidifying the domestic lifestyle for women.

Crimes against humanity, such as forced sterilization of indigenous women and accusations of witchcraft

resulting in being burned at the stake, are instances still existing today in Peru. The glorification of the

curandero and condemnation of the bruja is only yet another reinforcement of female inferiority. As a woman,

I can only hope that through research and careful societal restructuring, indigenous women will one day no

longer be a gender scorn by marginalization and condescension.

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