The Power of a Woman's Word...

As we covered in class, El sí de las niñas translates in English to The maiden’s consent. In this era, we don’t refer to women as “maiden’s”, but I find this concept interesting. When I hear the word “maiden”, I think of a Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty type of girl that is in some terrible situation and needs a man to rescue her. As in this story, Francisca is poor, comes from a family with no money, and is ultimately dependent on the money of the man she marries to help out herself and her family for the rest of their lives. When I think back to this time when women were referred to as maiden’s, I can’t help but see the irony with all of it. Maiden’s were viewed as girly women who were under the control of their overbearing mothers and dependent, ultimately on men. Yet, if they said no to a relationship, it was off. Ultimately, they had the last say. For women viewed as so weak, they had a lot of power. Es un poco irónico, ¿no?