Women in 1950s Spain were mainly involved in the domestic sphere.

Period overview The 1940s and 1950s were a dark period in Spanish history, where the country was still recovering from the effects of the Spanish Civil War. The economy was poor and people suffered a huge number of deprivations as a result of the loss of life and the repressive nature of the regime which sought to vanquish any and all remaining Republican support by going after anyone who had been affiliated with or expressed any sympathies towards the Second Republic.

Internal Spanish female migrants found life in Spain difficult in this period as Francoist policy dictated they remain in the home. Unlike their husbands who could now develop social connections through outside employment, immigrant women were isolated, having left behind their social networks in their home countries.

Until the mid-1950s, Spain was crippled by an economic crisis coupled with a government-imposed repressive society and culture that demanded uniformity and compliance. Starting in the 1950s, Spain started adopting a more consumerist economy. This would continue on into the 1960s and would play a role in introducing Spanish women to the new modern Western woman, eschewing of the concept of Catholic womanhood. The 1950s saw mass migration of people from the countryside to the city. The regime began to adapt their ideology to deal with this new urban reality. Many women made such moves with the hope that they could be more anonymous and avoid accusations of being collaborators with the Republicans.

Starting in the 1950s, foreign films shown in Spain presented women as fully autonomous. This image conflicted with the state-presented image of the ideal Spanish woman, which demanded women surrender agency to their husbands and fathers and become wives and mothers. These films also served to bring Spanish women out of their international isolation. They also helped to feed a Spanish consumerist culture that challenged the regime.

During the 1950s, tourists started to visit Spanish beaches en masse. Their attire of mini skirts and bikinis shifted Spanish cultural perceptions of revealing clothes, and these garments became more socially acceptable.

The 1950s saw a decrease of the importance of the Women's Section of Falange (Sección Femenina) as their role in shoring up the economy and producing propaganda for national unity were less needed. In response, it switched to become more clearly a social welfare arm of the state. The organization lost much of its political influence and position within the Francoist structure. Its survival was largely dependent on their involvement in education and the fact that no other organization offered women of this period the same level of opportunities. Pilar Primo de Rivera was viewed by many inside the regime as a critical player in successfully encouraging Franco to relax restrictions for women during the 1950s and 1960s.

Women in opposition to the regime It was only during the 1950s and 1960s that some of the Communist women involved with POUM and Trotskyite purges began to re-evaluate their role in them; their change of hearts only occurred after Stalinist Communism lost its prestige among leftist circles.

The late 1950s and early 1960s saw severe repression of CNT by Franco's government that made activism even more difficult. María Bruguera Pérez participated in clandestine meetings of CNT.

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party From the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s, women made up an estimated 10% of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party membership. Following the end of the Spanish Civil War, SSWP lacked an interior leadership body. Socialist women worked as liaisons or as messengers for clandestine SSWP and UGT activities. Some were sent to prison for many years as a result. Agrupación de Socialistas Asturianos en México member Purificación Tomás would play an important role among socialist women in Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s. She was affiliated with the UGT affiliated exile group Círculo Pablo Iglesias.

Unlike other European countries where parties held control over unions, SSWP had very little leverage over UGT in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s despite a large overlap in leadership. During the 1950s and 1960s, neither UGT nor SSWP put much consideration into political ideologies and practices related to improving the lives of women. Socialist women played an important role in Asturias by doing clandestine work, such as coordinating between cells, supporting covert strike actions and taking over roles left vacant because male leaders were incarcerated.

During the mid-1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, Barcelona based Movimiento Socialista de Cataluña was highly influenced by the British Labor party, who had developed extensive contacts with the group to give them legitimacy within Catalonia. Female leaders in the group in this period included Serra i Moret. SSWP's relationship with the group in this era was unstable, and Lucila Fernández was the only prominent female figure in SSWP's Catalan organization.

Starting in the 1950s, Josefina Arrillaga Lansorena, a lawyer, began attending clandestine socialist meetings in Madrid. She became involved with Antonio Amat, who wanted to replace the dead Tomás Centeno in order to reconstruct both UGT and SSWP.

Women in Unión General de Trabajadores in Francoist Spain Starting in the 1950s, Josefina Arrillaga Lansorena, a lawyer, began attending clandestine socialist meetings in Madrid. She became involved with Antonio Amat, who wanted to replace the dead Tomás Centeno in order to reconstruct both UGT and SSWP.

Basque nationalism Basque nationalism was frequently on the wane during the Francoist period. Regime crackdowns on the movement would serve to continually re-activate it. The 1950s were a period which saw support for Basque nationalism split between the PNV and ETA. ETA had a general policy of not targeting women. Women were not actively involved with ETA early in the organization's history. This was because the organization had conservative Roman Catholic roots, which included the idea that women belonged in the home. Wives of Basque nationalists could become socially isolated as a result of their husband's involvement as the organization asked them to avoid socializing with those outside the group. This both protected the organization from discovery and reinforced the movement's ideology by largely only allowing it to dominate in the home as other voices were not heard. This put a huge burden on women.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the government's ability to suppress the Basque language began to erode. More works in the Basque language began to appear, including one on the history of the Basque people during the Spanish Civil War. Husbands being involved with political resistance could prove difficult for wives and children as PNV could only pay a small stipend when they were out on assignment. Many of these men also held only working class positions like electricians, furniture makers, and automobile mechanics. This meant their salaries were often low. Women had to work to stretch their money because of the economic status of their jobs and positions within PNV. Despite the security risks, many husbands told their wives about their activities, leaving out critical operational details. This work often required husbands to be away from their lives for long periods of time, leaving their wives to manage everything on the home front. Despite this, few couples separated as a consequence of the man's political activities.

In rural areas of the Basque country, families tended to have patriarchal power structures. Women were often required to look for paid work outside the home as their farms were not self-sustainable given the economic situation in Spain at the time. Middle class Basque nationalist families in the Franco period tended to support the regime's position on families. Wives of Basque nationalists could become socially isolated as a result of their husband's involvement as the organization asked them to avoid socializing with those outside the group. This both protected the organization from discovery and reinforced the movement's ideology by largely only allowing it to dominate in the home as other voices were not heard. This put a huge burden on women.

Women's rights

Childcare

One of the most important female labor activities in the Francoist period, especially between 1940 and 1970, was childcare. The regime used Sección Femenina and Acción Católica to impose its pro-natalist policies on Spain through the concept of traditional womanhood, that demanded among other things that women tend to the home and be primary caregivers to their children. This was expected of women, even if they were required to take on extra work inside the home or they were able to pay someone to do basic domestic tasks. Men were expected to be in the workforce, providing a steady income that would cover the costs of running the household. There was no differentiation in this period paid and domestic work for women. Both were viewed as two part of the same purpose of women serving Spanish society.

Sección Feminina and Falange provided childcare services during the 1950s and 1960s to women working in the agricultural sector. Official women's participation in this industry were around 5.5%, but informal participation was much higher, resulting in the need for childcare.

Contraception For many married Andalusian women in this period, there was a certain fatalism about the fact they would inevitably become mothers. It was difficult for them to try to negotiate family planning with their spouses. Most couples practicing family planning used coitus interruptus during the 1940s and 1950s. The Catholic Church in this period allowed couples to use the rhythm method. As American culture began to influence Spain more during the mid-1950s, Spaniards began to adopt more American birth control methods. Prohibitions against the sale of contraception in Andalusia in this period were largely ineffective as women had various means to try to limit the number of children they had. This was especially true for women engaging in sex outside of marriage at a time when that practice, along with having children when single, were highly condemned by the government. Women were willing to take risks to have sex for pleasure by using some form of birth control.

Divorce During the Franco period, there was the concept of "hidden divorce". These were declarations by the Spanish Catholic Church that a marriage was nullified. They were different from ecclesiastical courts dissolution of marriages. These annulments were only allowed because of Pauline privilege, where the church may grant a nullification for a marriage where neither spouse has been baptized. This method of nullification may only be granted when one spouse wishes to convert to Catholicism and the other does not. This allows the converted Catholic spouse to be able to remarry a practicing Catholic.

Another way a marriage could end under Catholic law was known as Petrine privilege. A divorce could be granted if the married coupled included a Catholic and non-Catholic spouse, where the Catholic spouse wanted the separation so they could remarry to a Catholic.

Guardianship Up until the mid-1960s, Franco's legal system gave husbands near total control over their wives. This would not change until women started playing a more central role in the Spanish economy.

By year

1950