History of feminism in Spain - Summary

It will be throughout the 19th century (but especially at the beginning of the 20th century) when feminism as a social movement has a greater scope in Spain. Women vindicated themselves for the right to an education, work... they were fighting, ultimately, for political, social and economic equality. Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a little summary of the history of feminism in Spain So that, thus, you can know the problems that women had to face, mentioning some of the pioneers, main protagonists in this fight.

This article could not be carried out without being clear about the concept of feminism. Feminism is a social movement headed solely by women who fight for equality between the two genders, taking precedence over the superiority of a man over a woman.

The first theoretical references allusive to feminism occurred in era of the French Enlightenment, the first movement to fight for women's rights. Among them we highlight Madeleine Pelletier, a pioneer in defending birth control, as well as sexual freedom.

She also highlighted the figure of Coco Chanel, who revolutionized women's fashion, freeing women from the harrowing garments of previous decades.

In Spain it will be with the arrival of the first Republic when women begin to have certain rights. The first to be carried out was the defense of compulsory primary education for girls and the right to be able to further study somewhere outside of Spain.

However, it won't be until Second republic When really the feminist movement acquires greater vigor notably favoring the rights of all Spanish women with:

• The right to vote for women
• Recognition of divorce and civil marriage
• The right to the power of women over their children
• Exclusion for women from the crime of adultery

Now, well... who is behind all this? Have you never heard of Victoria Kent, Clara Campoamor or Margaret Nelken? Well, the three of them ended up becoming the first deputies of the Spanish Courts, after them many others got it like Matilde de la Torre or María Lejárraga.

Y Dolores Ibárruri, better known as "La Pasionaria"? She was a leader of the Communist Party of Spain, and in that political life, she took the opportunity to fight for women's rights.

There were so many women who managed to get into political activity, that Spain for the year 1936 was the country with more women in the government.

Although so far and from the legal point of view, changes were being made by leaps and bounds, the change in mentality based on daily behavior was terrible.

Let's see an example, about the Commercial Code (1885), Penal (1870) and Civil (1889) based on discrimination against women:

“The married woman does not have personal autonomy, much less work, Therefore, she does not have economic independence, nor be the owner of her own income, these, at all times must be administered by her husband, so that she, she has to Always obey this of her, even in the case of her wanting to carry out an economic or commercial activity, she cannot carry it out as long as she does not have the consent of her husband”.

During the civil war, in Catalonia what became known as the Free Women's Group, made up of more than 20,000 women who stood out for fighting as true militia women on the front lines.

Under the regime of the Franco dictatorship, all the rights that women had achieved so far, disappeared, going back 40 years. Many of the women protagonists of these changes were exiled, and it will not be until practically the 60s - 70s when Due to the economic growth of the hand of tourism, it once again allowed the entry of women into the world of work among others things.

From that moment on, little by little one begins to become aware of the importance of women in all aspects, having to wait until the 1978 Constitution so those rights will be fully recognized.

In this other lesson we discover a summary of women in the Franco regime.