ABSTRACT
When attempting to understand their own lives in the present, widows refer to the time before la violencia when social roles in general and gender roles in particular were more clearly defined. Traditionally, gender roles are guided by the concept of complementarity: husband and wife are likened to the sun and the moon. Members of the newer religions—evangelical Protestants and charismatic Catholics—refer to q’ij as “either gender deceivers”. The inclusion of women was not, at least initially, considered by the missionaries even though, as part of the consciousness-raising process, indigenous men were led to address the issue of gender (in)equality. Within the household, the traditional division of labour by gender ranges from pragmatic flexibility to nearly absolute. Gender roles are clearly separate though interdependent. In general, men are not coercive over women who act in accordance with their prescribed gender roles; there, women have independence.
