Monjeríos
Gendered facility at colonial Spanish Missions / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monjeríos (Spanish pronunciation: [mõŋ.xe.ˈɾi.os], from monjería, "cloister") were quarters within a colonial Spanish mission for the housing (under conditions of near-imprisonment) unmarried Indigenous Californian girls and single women.[1][2] Girls were taken away from their parents to the monjeríos at around the age of seven until marriage.[1][3] The quarters functioned as a form of social control at the missions for conversion to Catholicism, regulation of the sexuality of girls and women, and for the rearing of Indigenous children as a labor source.[1][4]
The monjeríos instituted family separation on Indigenous peoples, with reports of sexual abuse.[5] Resistance and rebellions toward the monjeríos occurred.[5] There were monjeríos at all of the Spanish missions in California, often multiple at a single site.[1] There were similar quarters for Indigenous boys and single men known as jayuntes.[1] The monjeríos were not disbanded until the secularization of the missions by the First Mexican Republic in 1834.[5]