Enterprising and committed: female editors of Spanish magazines 1850–1900

Reference books on the history of Spanish journalism tend to ignore female journalists of the 19th century and women who edited periodicals, with a few exceptions. And there were some. The aim of this article is to highlight those names: women who ran Spanish publications between 1850 and 1900. They began to publish their writings and develop professionally in women’s fashion an domestic magazines. Ángela Grassi, Faustina Sáez de Melgar, Emilia Serrano, and Pilar Sinués acted as entrepreneurs who launched publications in line with the very profitable women’s magazines that existed in France and England. Other women, such as Carolina de Soto y Corro, Patrocinio de Biedma, and Concepción Gimeno de Flaquer, launched prestigious cultural papers. These women were and work interconnected, despite living in different cities and beyond the contents of their magazines. Those women who managed publications employed others as contributors and were, in turn, given a job when their own magazine closed. This strategy proved to be crucial in a period such as the second half of the 19th century, when the profession of journalist was still in its first steps, women’s intellectual work was highly restricted, and the chances of achieving economic independence through it were small.