ABSTRACT: The discursive practices of the press can be seen as socio-historic spaces where power and social changes are articulated and, as such, participate in the construction of cultural identity and social memory. The results presented in the article are part of a study about the representation of the feminine figure in the Brazilian press during the 19th century. Journalistic discourse is compared to that of history and to the narratives of the foreign travelers who registered their views of Brazilian society. If, at the beginning of the century, women were virtually absent from the press registers, the changes in the configuration of representation along the period also indicate changes in relational patterns and a growing questioning of the feminine identity up till then constructed exclusively with reference to the family and the domestic sphere.