Press, divorce, and marriage: The role of women in the modern family (1910-1950)

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the positions of three Rio de Janeiro journals, Careta, Fon-Fon and O Malho, in terms of a woman’s role in the concept of the “modern family” during the first half of the twentieth century, whether as a daughter, wife, or mother. Based on the concept of modern patriarchy, we seek to understand the new forms of patriarchy in republican Brazil and how these affected women’s behavior, their everyday lives in the family sphere and in social and power dynamics in private and public spaces, during this period of accelerated change. Based on this analysis, we consider how the press reported to its readers on marriages and separations and how it presented female desire through divorce.