The Female of the Species

The position of woman in Spanish society during the 1930's was not enviable.  It almost trite to point to the discrepancies in wages between men and woman to the detriment of the women as that would be fairly commonplace throughout the world at the time, not that that issue has been removed at the present time.    Although it was not a universal adhered to practice, it was also expected that woman had to be chaperoned in public.  1930's Spanish was an incredibly male dominated society with an equally strong attitude of machismo among the male parts of society.  It would be no coincidence that in Spanish the word for "wife" and "handcuffs" are the same.

Woman in the Republic had a real opportunity to fight on the front line along their male comrades.  This was not at a completely equal footing as they were still expected to fulfil traditional "woman's" role such as preparing meals and laundering clothes.  

Female based political parties, such as  Mujeres Libres (Free Women) sought to involve women in the political sphere of the struggle and the war.  Considering the historical background of the country of that time they strove to emphasis the political aspects of their organisation rather than commit to a strong feminism stance.  They wanted to be seen as a female version of their male counterpoints in the anarchist and socialist movement and not an opposition.  

Although the anarchist sought to abolish legal marriage in favour of a Free Union of people the practice of marriage continued in the main due to its ingrained view of social respectability and the communal acceptance ceremony that a traditional marriage would involve.

Many women flocked to the Republican cause and adopted the "working class" uniform of the blue mechanic overalls.

On the Nationalist side the role of woman was to continue as had previously.  Women were encouraged to remain at home to tend the children and the home or to serve in traditional military roles assisting in tending the wounded in hospitals.  A tiny handful was allowed to fight with the Nationalist armies.

¡No pasarán!