A Look at Patagonian Women: Female Counseling in the Magazine Argentina Austral (1929-1933)

Abstract

Argentina Austral was a magazine published between June 1929 and June 1967 by the Sociedad Anónima Importadora y Ex- portadora de la Patagonia. The main characteristic of this publication was the heterogeneity of its content, which included social, economic, political articles, biographies, literature, and general culture. Images about women and their role in society is an aspect to take into account. Particularly interesting is the Páginas Femeninas column, published from 1929 to 1933. It was intended for housewives and its topics can be divided between advice on home economics, marriage, parenting, religion, and discussions on feminism. This work, as a first approach to the issue, aims to introduce the discourse of female discipline of home counseling that was present in the magazine Argentina Austral. From a series of patriarchal proposals with pedagogical intentions, the column sought to standardize norms of conduct, determined by gender. At the same time, the task had to be carried out in a context of transformation, in which feminism was also growing in Latin America, especially in relation to suffragette debates. As a product of this conjuncture of antagonistic positions, the column was inserted in the ambivalence of the period.