Clara Campoamor Rodríguez is one of the most famous political figures in the fight for women’s rights in Spain. Clara’s work as a writer was focused on politics, Spanish history and on the final development of women in society as an ability to act and make a positive contribution to the growth and development of society. Campoamor was a constant woman, always true to her thoughts and ideals. She knew the possibilities of overcoming difficulties and believed in them enough to create confidence in other women. Her struggle led her to promote the women’s vote and they were able to use it for the first time in the 1933 electoral process.
Campoamor was enrolled at the University of the Madrid School of Law and took part in the debating society in Madrid. At 36, she received her degree, and at 44, she won elections to the Constitutional Assembly (Canales 42). It was this body of power, after the expulsion of King Alonso XIII, that was to create a new constitution for the republic, and Campoamor became one of only two women in the Assembly (Canales 42). The second was Victoria Kent, who, for political reasons, opposed her on the issue of women’s suffrage (Lovenduski and Hills 25). In this body, Campoamor fought against gender discrimination, for the legal equality of children born in and out of wedlock, the right to divorce, and universal suffrage, often referred to as the “women’s vote”. As a result, Campoamor won the right to vote for women, but lost the political fight.
In 1930, Campoamor acted as a defender of the participants in the uprising in Jaca. In the same year, she headed the Republican Union of Women, and then joined the Radical Party, from which in 1931 she was elected to the Spanish Parliament (Canales 42). Paradoxically, the elections of 1933, the first in which Spanish women voted, were won by right-wing parties, and Clara herself was left without a parliamentary mandate (Lovenduski and Hills 25). In 1935, she left the Radical Party, and part of the Republican Action movement advocated her exclusion from their ranks (Canales 42). Clara was trying to create an independent party that would fight for women’s rights. At the same time, she was appointed president of the organization for the protection of the rights of the children of workers in Asturias.
The Parliament of the 2nd Republic passed a corresponding law stating that women did not participate in the elections. The turning point in the debate came with the speech of the MP from the Radical Party, Clara Campoamor. In her speech to Parliament on September 30, 1931, she stated that she did not believe that a woman was a danger to the Republic (Pastor-González 63). The danger is that women will see that even the dictatorship was ready to attract them, and the Republic rejects them. The next day, Spanish women were legally granted the right to vote.
Since Spain’s transition to democracy, there have been many confessions from organizations that advocate for women’s equality. Various institutes, schools, cultural centers, women’s associations, parks and streets were renamed in honor of Campoamor. In 1998, the Andalusian Ministry of Equality established the Clara Campoamor Prize, which is awarded annually. One per province and one specifically dedicated to individuals or groups who have played an important role in advancing women’s equality. She inspired many feminists to fight for their rights and became one of the key figures in Spain.
Works Cited
Canales, Antonio Fco. “Women, university and science in twentieth-century Spain.” History of Education vol. 47, no.1, 2018. pp. 36-53.
Lovenduski, Joni, and Jill Hills, eds. The Politics of the Second Electorate: Women and Public Participation: Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, West Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Eastern Europe, USSR, Japan. Routledge, 2018.
Pastor-González, Victoria. “Towards New Ways of Representing History: Generic Innovations in the Historical Biopic in Spain.” Comparative Cinema vol. 9, no.16, 2021. pp. 52-74.