The artisan guilds of New Spain and the opening of the trades to women (1546-1800)

Mexico City had fifty craft guilds with their own ordinances, most of them older than the eighteenth century. In 1798 the viceroy overruled the embroiderers' guild in favour of a poor widow who wanted to earn her living at their craft, and in 1800 the crown approved his order and told the guilds to reform any ordinance that shut women out. The same file carries a viceroy's judgement that the guilds had left the trades of America in the deepest backwardness.