The documents from the Notaria Primera de Popayan (First Registry Office of Popayan) about the transfer of property in the XVIIth Century, suggest that the protection and collaboration of women of the same family group was used as a criteria for the configuration of neighborhoods. It could also be inferred that the matron of each family guided the daily life of their female relatives (daughters and sisters), and that the institution of dowry encouraged that women would own the houses they were to live in.