Spain: Feminism in our time

Abstract

During the Franco regime feminist activity was clandestine and therefore contained, although a tentative beginning was made after 1970 due to influence from the U.S.A. and other European countries. Since then, many groups and tendencies have sprung up, developed and sometimes split into new groups with opposing ideologies and concerns. The author points to four main tendencies in Spanish feminism today: a reformist women's rights tendency; women aligned to political parties; women identifying women as a class; and a so-called radical tendency. Spanish women suffer from all the oppressions associated with a Catholic country with a fascist history-lack of access to abortion, reactionary laws on divorce, father-right etc. Feminist publishing is still in its infancy. However, it is argued that despite or perhaps because of this, Spain has a very advanced feminist ideology and an important feminist movement.