Women of the Incan empire: Before and after the conquest of Peru
Women of the Incan empire: Before and after the conquest of Peru By Sarah Hunt The day Pizarro set foot in Peru the Incas found their world forever altered. Within a few short years, the Spanish had conquered the Incan Empire, rearranging the life of an entire nation. While the Spanish conquest touched every Incan person, women were profoundly affected by this shift in power. In pre-conquest Peru, Andean women were part of a highly structured society, and held a complementary role to their male counterparts. However, after the Spanish conquest, women had to navigate through an entirely different society. (...) Incan society was meticulously structured, and everyone had a distinct social niche. Though Andean society was a hierarchical patriarchy, it was not as extreme as the Spanish patriarchy, and women occupied a complimentary, rather than subordinate role to men. At the top of the feminine hierarchy was the Quoya, or queen. As the Inca, or king’s primary wife, she bore the title “Q
