I must admit I found the Citizenship and Rights in the New Republics chapter less interesting than most of the other chapters but nevertheless was captivated by the exploration of the female role in society as is presented in María Eugenia Echenique’s Brushstrokes and Judith’s [Josefina Pelliza de Sagasta] Women: Dedicated to Miss María Eugenia Echenique. Their exchange allows us to look into how the role of women was commonly seen and defined as well as how it may have been to be a feminist at that time. One thing that struck me was the presence of feminism in the 1870s in Latin America at all, as I did not know there were early Latin American feminists prior to these readings.
While I understand it was a significantly different time, with different social norms and habits, I couldnt help but be disgusted at Judith’s Women: Dedicated to Miss María Eugenia Echenique. Written in response to Maria Eugenia Echenique’s Brushstrokes, Judith writes this letter centred on the argument that women should surely not seek to be as equal as men. She Challenges Echenique, and suggests that if women were to achieve the emancipation echenique writes about, women would be stripped of their dignity, natural beauty and charm. She believes that it is in this beauty that a female’s real prestige lies and that by becoming entirely free and independant, women would lose this prestige. Her notions infuriated me as I believe a women’s prestige lies also lies in other things such as inteligence and ability. I think it is important to note, that Judith was not representing the views of most women. Judith was writing this letter as a women in the position of a high class wife, spoiled with a lavish and, quite frankly, easy lifestyle. Unlike her the majority of women in Latin America would not have the riches and luxuries of her lif, instead living a poor or working class life. While written in a graceful and almost convincing writing style, Judith exemplifies the opposition many of the early feminists in Latin America were facing, but her safe role as a companion and privileged wife was one that was not shared by the rest of society.