An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Author: María Antonia Pérez

Type of publication: Speech

Title: Speech

Year of publication: 1812

Place created: Caracas

Language: English

Location of text: Reproduced and translated in Arlene Díaz, Female Citizens, Patriarchs, and the Law in Venezuela, 1786-1904, University of Nebraska Press, 2004, p.158. in Hallworth Library, University of Nottingham

Abstract: Statement of the abuses within marriage.

Content:
I do not know how to declaim against the abuses which, until then, have supported the caprices of the husbands who have gained authority over women´s lives. In essence, this is what happens in matrimony: The husband harasses and oppresses his consort and ... Acts freely with her possessions, he orders his woman around and makes her obey him even for the most base and shameful of things, and the husband breaks frequently the sacred bond of fidelity, and tainted with all these defects, he goes to a court that not only justifies [his actions] but supports him to continue the destruction of his compañera. This is exactly my current situation, and this is how Maucó behaves towards me.

Texts written by María Antonia Pérez:
1812 - Legal petition
1812 - Speech