Institutional Change, Representations, and the Establishment of Female-Participated Businesses in Mexico City, Second Half of the 19th Century; Cambio institucional, representaciones y constitución de empresas con participación femenina en la ciudad de Mé

Abstract

This article explores the representations of women who exercised property rights and promoted business initiatives during the second half of the 19th century. To this end, it analyzes how they were depicted in the legislative changes, as well as in literature and painting, alongside notarial evidence of their business association practices. This required the selection and use of diverse primary sources. The intersection of cultural and economic perspectives reveals two simultaneous scenarios. One is dynamic, highlighting legal changes that favored women’s interests and autonomy, which they leveraged in various association initiatives. The other tends to limit their presence in the public economic sphere, justified by some codifiers and actors of legal codification on the grounds of family unity. In this context, often stereotyped representations of women coexisted with an overt and restrictive patriarchal culture.