‘Intercrossings’ between Spanish women’s groups and their German, British and Portuguese counterparts (1914–32)

Abstract

This article contends that the movement in favour of the rights of women in Spain during the first third of the twentieth century was integrated into several international networks. Three exchanges are analysed between, on the one hand, the women socialists and suffragists in Spain, and, on the other, the international networks built up by the German socialist Clara Zetkin, the suffragists of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and the Portuguese feminist Ana de Castro Osório. Scrutiny of these ‘intercrossings’ reveals that, despite their ‘asymmetrical’ outcomes, the demand for the social and political rights of women surpassed national boundaries and had a transformative impact on all the parties involved.