In 1820 the book Defensa del bello sexo: caracteres de la historia, genio, disposición, méritos, ocupaciones, costumbres, e importancia, del bello sexo en todas las partes del mundo, interpolados con muchas anécdotas singulares y divertidas. Traducidos, aumentados y coordinados para nuestras lectoras americanas. Por Don José Antonio Cantillon Profesor de idiomas en Buenos Aires was printed at the city's Imprenta de los Expósitos. Although Cantillon claimed to have developed and compiled the work, the book is in fact a direct, yet partial, translation of an English text entitled Woman. Sketches of the History, Genius, Disposition, Accomplishments, Employments, Customs and Importance of the Fair Sex, in all parts of the world. Interspersed with many singular and entertaining anecdotes. By a friend to the sex. Woman was published anonymously in 1790 in London and subsequent editions were produced in the United States. It is a comparative history of human society, a common print form in eighteenth-century Britain, which focuses on women.

This chapter will begin with a few remarks on José Antonio Cantillon followed by a brief characterisation of the comparative history genre. It will then provide information on the production of the Buenos Aires edition. Finally it will examine Defensa to indicate the kind of discourses on gender that it contained, and will show that the text, in keeping with its title, attacks women's social subordination while presenting femininity as culturally variable and therefore subject to change. Defensa presents an important case study because it engages directly in the debate on the condition of women, expresses a positive conception of femininity, and is clearly aimed at a female readership. Further, Defensa links the social position of women to the success of modern nations. For these reasons the contents of the text are presented at length and in detail in this chapter.

The Translator: José Antonio Cantillon

Little is known about the translator of Defensa, José Antonio Cantillon, whose surname is Irish. In 1831, ten years after the publication of Defensa, he placed an advertisement in The British Packet stating that he had recovered from ill health and was thus available for work as a translator and notary, among other things, once again: