Abstract
The purpose of this article is to show the manner in which women were depicted in elementary education school texts. Temporarily, it is set in the first decade of the 20th Century in Mexico, during the last years of the Porfirian government. It portrays the imagery surrounding the duties and behaviors of young girls through reading manuals from female Mexican authors. Some sources are books such as El amigo de las niñas mexicanas, Rafaelita, El ángel del hogar and La perla de la casa. The author studies the represen-tations of young females through several axes of analysis: personal attributes of the girls, caring for the heart and soul, duties towards parents and siblings, deportment in school and deportment in society. It pays special attention to the importance of reading books as a behavior guide for youngsters, describing the importance of moral rules and good manners, and then studying the demands of good conduct in the axes previously mentioned. The author concludes by pointing out the implications of such readings in the young women’s attitude.