Antonia Castaeda has utilized scholarship from women's studies and Mexican-American history to

examine nineteenth-century literary portrayals of Mexican women. As Castaeda notes, scholars of

women's history observe that in the Unites States, male novelists of the periodduring which,
according to these scholars, women's traditional economic role in home-based agriculture was
threatened by the transition to a factory-based industrial economydefine women solely in their
domestic roles of wife and mother. Castaeda 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 "Californianas" (the Mexican women of the territory)
by ensuring them property rights and inheritance rights equal to those of males.

For Castaeda, the laws explain a stereotypical plot created primarily by male, non-Hispanic
novelists: the story of an ambitious non-hispanic merchant or trader desirous of marrying an elite
Californiana. These novels' favourable portrayal of such women is noteworthy, since Mexican-
American historians have concluded that unflattering literary depictions 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-life economic significance, the Californianas were
portrayed more favourably than were others of the same nationality.