GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) | Antonia Castañeda has utilized scholarship from women’s studies and Me

(Line) Antonia Castañeda has utilized scholarship from
women’s studies and Mexican-American history to
examine nineteenth-century literary portrayals of
Mexican women. As Castañeda notes, scholars of
(5)women’s history observe that in the United States,
male novelists of the period—during which, according
to these scholars, women’s traditional economic role
in home-based agriculture was threatened by the
transition to a factory-based industrial economy—
(10)define women solely in their domestic roles of wife and
mother. Castañeda finds that during the same period
that saw non-Hispanic women being economically
displaced by industrialization, Hispanic law in territorial
California protected the economic position of
(15)“Californianas” (the Mexican women of the territory) by
ensuring them property rights and inheritance rights
equal to those of males.


For Castañeda, the laws explain a stereotypical
plot created primarily by male, non-Hispanic novelists:
(20)the story of an ambitious non-Hispanic merchant or
trader desirous of marrying an elite Californiana.
These novels’ favorable portrayal of such women
is noteworthy, since Mexican-American historians
have concluded that unflattering literary depictions
(25)of Mexicans were vital in rallying the United States
public’s support for the Mexican-American War
(1846–1848). The importance of economic alliances
forged through marriages with Californianas explains
this apparent contradiction. Because of their real-
(30)life economic significance, the Californianas were
portrayed more favorably than were others of the
same nationality.