Constructions of feminine subjectivity within nationalist regimes: the cases of Spain and Ireland

Abstract

This article tries to explore the parallelisms between the female model roles that were designed by Franco and Eamon de Valera´s regimes both in Spain and in Ireland respectively. These two rulers, with a very strong fascist influence, come to power in the interwar decades and their regimes will last until the de seventies, leaving a deep imprint in the history of both countries. Nationalist ideologies and the doctrines of the Catholic Church ally in order to create a national discourse where, symbolically, women occupy a privileged position, but in practice their rights and aims are radically cut. This comparative study shows how two nationalist phenomena with different historical origins exert similar forms of oppression upon women: in both countries, female agency is limited to the domestic domain and legislation, ideology and education become the pillars of these regimes, thus imposing a radical discrimination against women and reducing their identity to symbols and metaphors.