Gender Relations in Spanish Society Since 1975 Essay

Outline

Gender development, just like some other European countries; have seen quite a number of changes, especially on the positive side since the end of the dictatorial government in the mid 1970s. Considered to mean equal access to all resources like healthcare, employment, technology, and credit facilities, gender development is an important in empowering tool to develop a state in any society. The post dictatorial government recognized the gender empowerment programs and recognized rights of women (Valiente, 1997c 181). They repealed such draconian rules that existed such as illegal advertisement of contraceptives, and illegalization of abortion thus making women have more control over their reproductive health system. This paper, therefore discusses the gender progress in Spain since the end of dictatorship in 175

Introduction

Gender development in the world over has seen significant changes in the past five decades. Gender as the 3^rd of the Millennium Development Goals has generated strong debates in the past and to date, with different gender experts and scholars giving varied opinions on the gender development progress. As former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan once said, “there is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls “ (UNDP, 2007/ 2009) However, many scholars observe that gender disparities are more than just education, and if anything, education alone cannot eliminate the overall unjust system of governance and societal hierarchies (Arjomand, 1993, p. 103). It is thus said that just and equal access to all resources like healthcare, employment, technology, and credit facilities are important in empowering the women. Spain, governed by General Francisco Franco, had been faced by some of the worst gender discrepancies in Europe (Arjomand, 1993, p. 104). This was attributed to the authoritarian regime of General Francisco who led Spain from mid 1930s to 1975. The post dictatorial government on the other hand recognized the gender empowerment programs and recognized rights of women (Valiente, 1997c 181).

During the Franco rule, it was illegal to advertise any form of contraceptives, making it difficult for women to have the authority over their reproductive health management (Daly, 1993, 103). It was as well illegal to have or conduct abortion in Spain during this time (p.104). The official state doctrines had put in place the meaning of an ideal family unit in a form of a hierarchical identity, recognizing the father as the official head of the family, with all the powers to run and take care of the family (p. 106). It was made clear that motherhood was the sole responsibility of the mothers, a task that indebted them to the state and the society as a whole. This consequently reinforced the notion that women’s role could not allow them do any other duty like salaried or waged works since the motherhood responsibility was seen as incompatible with other duties (Casanova, 2000, p. 201). Worse still, Franco’s rule even went ahead to make all the women’s duties confined within the compounds of their homes, and illegalized any other responsibility that would see them work outside the confines of their homes until 1960s (Daly, p.108). One of such clause required that any married woman had to seek permission from the husband before putting her signature to a labor contract and having any trade engagement. However, as time went by, Franco’s late rule saw the abolition of some draconian policies like prohibition to practice some professions like law and some labor limitation such as the abolition of prohibiting married women from working in the labor market. But these measures only became effective after the 1975 (p. 109)

In Spain, the church controlled a good chunk of learning institutions. In the first phase of the Franco rule, the state and the church worked hand in hand and supported one another (Valiente, 1997c, p. 199). There was no freedom of worship since catholic was the official religion for the country. This saw the state delegating all the duties and responsibilities of managing all the issues relating to marriage and divorce to the Catholic Church (p. 200). The powers the Catholic Church had over learning institutions were very instrumental in the overall shaping of the education system. The post-authoritarian years has seen Catholic Church demand more powers to control the learning institutions, especially on the establishment of religion in the syllabus (Castles, p. 38). Religious teachings were made mandatory in all primary and secondary schools. It is noted that the Catholic Church is opposed to some laws that legalize some moral matters in the society, such as abortion and divorce legalizations, which tend to affect women most in the society in general (p. 39). Sex segregation became the norm, thereby making boys and girls attend different schools and with different curricula. This grossly perpetuated the gender imbalance as early as tender age of the school children. However, it is important to notice that currently church in Spain is not very much involved in some of the main political controversies but is vocal mainly on matters such as education and moral issues (Bonal, 2000, p. 202-204). The political powers church wielded in the past decades has significantly declined especially after the democratic transition after 1975. This saw the church change its approach to democratic governance thereby giving support to the building of a new democratic state (Casanova, 1993, p. 114-117).

After 1975, Spanish women have constantly increased their participation in state and civil society matters. In the civil societies, they have either participated in mixed groups or as women only where they have advocated for changes in the governance. Arjomand, (1993, p.144) states that women now occupy some special and important place in the country that politicians cannot afford to avoid especially when looking for policies to support or oppose in the legislative process. It is also observed that mixed civil society organizations have women dominating, thereby giving them advantage over their male counterparts when it comes to policy change advocacy. A typical l example is in the third sector dedicated to social causes, where women are dominant. The movement of women is in two branches; one which is explicitly feminist and the other which is moderate (p.148). The relatively moderate group is composed of mainly housewives associations, widows groups, movement of mothers as well as religious and cultural organizations and many more. This group have found remarkable success considering their surging number of members and increased activities. The agitation for the liberation from dictatorship in Spain in 1960s is what brought about the explicitly feminists groups in what was known as feminist movements (Arjomand, 1993, p. 104). Most of the feminists were mainly active in the opposition to the then Franco regime, supporting the then illegal left wing political parties and trade unions. Since the end of dictatorship, these feminist movements have significantly influenced the changes in the gender equality issues like gender policy changes and making process, attributed to their close association with the left-wing groups of the political divide (p.105). Many of the feminist member groups mobilized both in the left-wing party and within their feminist organizations in the civil organizations (p.106). When the left wing took power after 1975, some of the women got senior political and government positions that enabled them to advance more agenda on the gender equality. Again, the left-wing feminists continued with their civil pressure on their male counterparts to bring about some legislative changes in relation to gender equality, by fronting the gender issues on policy change prioritization (Andren &Schmidt, 2005. p. 2). It is also important to acknowledge that feminist movements have succeeded in the mobilization of the public opinions to support the improvement of the welfare and status of women (p.9).

The issue of childcare has been discussed in the past in Spain for quite sometime since the post-dictatorial period. It has been an issue mainly advanced by the moderates in the movement of feminists (Valiente, 1997c, p. 183). Since childcare helps women to balance the work and family care, feminists in Spain, just like many other European countries have constantly demanded childcare services. Observers attribute the success of women’s gender equity advocacy in Spain to many years of dictatorship of the right-wing regime that kept women away from the thinking of childcare alone as the only issue (p.184). As Valiente states it, after many years of being brainwashed with the idea of child care and mothering as the only and the most important responsibility for women, it became apparent that this is the least thing that the Spanish woman wanted to hear or even give too much attention to. It was then understood that women feminists mainly focused in the development of the gender equity and improving the life of women, that is, employment, political involvements, and the control of their bodies thus making the newly liberated Spanish woman have a new lease of life (Valiente, 2002, p. 65; 2003, p. 288).

One of the areas that have tremendously improved the women’s welfare is the child care policy amendments. Even though seen as an education program policy, it has considerably improved the women status by allowing working class women to balance the motherhood and work thus the increased number of working-for-pay women in the past three decades (Andren & Schmidt, 2005, -11). Any attempt to cut the spending on the pre school program would be seen as an attempt to go against the women’s progress, thereby provoking the civil society and other feminist organizations. Even though 51.6% employment rate for women in Spain is slightly lower than the European Union average of 56.5%, many Spanish women (77.3%) now work full time for wages (p. 12).

In an overall analysis, Spain has significantly seen improvement since the adoption of Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) By the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 (UNDP, 2007/2009). Acknowledged and described as a bill of rights for women, CEDAW bill states areas where women get discrimination and solicit for countries to amend laws that seem to infringe on women’s rights. It also constructs gender policies for states. This has generally improved the general welfare of Spanish women. This is because since beginning of democratic Spain, decentralization of national resources was adopted to improve the economic status of women.

References

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