Women of the 19th century:

an analysis of the “Páginas para Senhoras” of the periodical O Novo Mundo (1870-1879)

Abstract

The newspaper O Novo Mundo, created and edited by the brazilian José Carlos Rodrigues, published in New York between 1870 and 1879, reached Brazilian lands with new demands and opportunities, due to the great influence of the periodical's communication. The present work seeks to analyze a specific section of the periodical called “Páginas para Senhoras” which begins to be published in 1874, but it is not a continuous section, it is not present in all subsequent editions. It is noteworthy that the first published article is about women's suffrage in the United States of America, something that differs from other journals that circulated in Brazil. We will seek to understand the various forms of impact of the press on Brazilian society in the 1800s, based on the notion that contemplates gender analysis as a fundamental category for historiography, as proposed by Joan Scott. Understanding, moreover, that the lived experience of women in the 19th century are facts that need to be described considering them as “concrete historical subjects”. That said, the general objective of this article is to reflect on the publication of articles in “Páginas para Senhoras” and the impact of these productions on female thought in search of emancipation in Brazil and the United States, thinking about a descriptive and analytical approach, as suggests Louise Tilly, who poses questions that are raised in other fields of History in an approach that converses with Political and Social History.