relations than Ladino women due to their importance to the mode of production (Bossen 1984).

In other words, since Maya women's work complements that of Maya men-since the women

are directly involved in subsistence agriculture-they are perceived as making a significant

contribution to the household, which gives them more power in the home and community.

Ladino women, on the other hand, work as school teachers or run homebound stores-vocations

of low status and low pay, which only widens the power gulf between them and Ladino men.

Even though their status in Guatemalan culture is higher than that of Maya women, the marriages

of Ladina women are seen as fragile compared with their Mayan counterparts-in cases of

economic and emotional neglect and mental and physical abuse, Ladinas are unable to get out of

their marriages. In general, Ladino culture has been described as more machista, with Ladino

men being more likely to assert their dominance through extra-marital relations and abusive and

controlling behavior. Maya men are believed to be more responsible to their wives and family

(Bossen 1984).

 The Pokomam Maya in San Pedro Pinula have a custom in which they consider marriage a

temporary contract for the first few years of the union. The custom is not as common now as it

was in previous years, yet it continues on occasion in the town of San Pedro Pinula as well as the

outlying villages. When a boy wants to marry a girl, he leaves a large quantity of bread,

chickens, corn, and firewood at the woman's home. If the family accepts, they arrange a party

and the couple will live together for a few years, during which time they will decide whether to

remain together or to separate. If they stay together-and if they can afford a wedding-they

may have a church marriage later on (See Figure 4-1).

 Although the Pokomam tradition appears to give women more options, an elder Maya

woman of seventy explained that once she was married, she was no longer able to walk the