Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

WOMAN’S POSITION IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN STATES. IN order to obtain a correct appreciation of the present condi- tion of the Spanish-American woman it will be necessary to bear in mind the influence exerted by many circumstances appertaining to ancient times, as well as the action of more recent and immediate causes. The bulk of the Spanish-American population is mainly com- posed of two elements: First, the descendants of the Spanish con- querors Second, the native Indian races of Central and South America The first one, although far inferior in numbers, has always been and continues to be the only ruling power in all the stalos These two elements brought into contact during four centuries have never become assimilated to any considerable extent. It mio-ht be said that they have rather kept themselves at a distance from each other, so that the overwhelming majority still remains a pure-blooded Indian, while only a small portion of it has become mixed with the Spanish race. But even this partial union, of those elements could not produce any substantial change in the position of woman in the Spanish- American colonies. She had always lived surrounded by a similar atmosphere and placed under similar circumstances in Spanish as well as in Indian civilization, her field of action never extending beyond the narrow limits of the family and of religious institutions, the church, convent, etc. In public life she was totally absent, abso- lutely ignored, as if she could not have any political significance whatever. Beyond the walls of the family dwellings she could become nothing but a Spanish nun or an Indian vestal. The form of government was essentially monarchical and theo- cratic in Spain, as it was in Indian countries. The divine right of kings was the same in both; and, as a natural consequence, m the course of several centuries the most exclusive religious sentiment became the main characteristic of the population. It must be added that the secular war in which Spain fought for national (233)