Scholars often assume that women's exclusion from the modern civil-religious cargo system in Mexico is a colonial legacy. But an analysis of Chiapas's surviving colonial cofradía books, approximately 200 in all, reveals that formalized female religious leadership was widespread in this region during the colonial period. Close to 50 cofradías in over 20 different towns elected female officials. Indigenous cofradías were clearly at the forefront of this practice; however, it also became remarkably popular among ladino, Black, and even Spanish cofradías during the eighteenth century. Not just symbolic figures, female cofradía officers managed finances and cared for the spiritual and physical welfare of fellow members and the community. Their labors often overlapped with the work of town councils to ensure community well-being and survival in the face of extreme economic exploitation, migration, and forced resettlements. These findings challenge the common generalization, based on studies of central Mexico, that women in colonial New Spain were excluded from officeholding and the prestige and authority it provided. By shifting focus beyond central Mexico, this article illustrates the diversity of female experience and the ways in which gender shaped native communities, cross-cultural exchanges, and dynamic adaptations in religious organizational leadership and Church policy.

学者们通常认为，女性被排除在墨西哥现代民间宗教货运系统之外是殖民遗产。但是，对恰帕斯幸存下来的大约 200 部殖民时期的 cofradía 书籍的分析表明，在殖民时期，正式的女性宗教领袖在该地区很普遍。20 多个不同城镇的近 50 个 cofradías 选出了女官员。土著 cofradías 显然处于这种做法的最前沿。然而，它在拉丁裔中也变得非常流行，黑色，甚至是 18 世纪的西班牙 cofradías。不仅仅是象征性的人物，女性 cofradía 官员管理财务并关心其他成员和社区的精神和身体福利。面对极端的经济剥削、移民和被迫重新安置，他们的工作经常与镇议会的工作重叠，以确保社区的福祉和生存。这些发现挑战了基于对墨西哥中部研究的普遍概括，即殖民地新西班牙的妇女被排除在公职之外，也被排除在其提供的声望和权威之外。通过将焦点转移到墨西哥中部以外，本文阐述了女性经历的多样性以及性别塑造本土社区、跨文化交流、