The reproduction of the Hispanic woman ideal in the Philippines through convents and women’s schools: Gender images, attitudes, and behaviors in the 17th century

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present an interpretation on the reproduction of the ideal of the Hispanic woman in Manila based on the contemporary and local notion of social ‘quality’. My research is based on the premise that an attempt was made to implement in the Philippines the same organizational model that was created for the American world. My approach differs from traditional historiography by objecting to the use of the terms ‘whiteness’ – used to refer to presumed Spanish women in Manila –, ‘racism’, and ‘Spanish woman’; I argue that these categories favor prejudiced and incomplete visions and are not part of the contemporary vocabulary in the first half of the 17th century. Thus, I analyze how the meaning of ‘quality woman’ was constructed in the Philippines as a determining criterion for inclusion and belonging to the elite of the city of Manila. Finally, I demonstrate the existence of a scale of preferences for ‘quality women’ and ‘women of less position’ which, in the vocabulary of the time, were known as ‘women of all qualities’.