Concepcion Arenal: the forgotten profile of a woman and humanist

Abstract

Concepción Arenal was able to transgress all the norms pertaining to nineteenth century
Spanish women, and came to be recognized as an intellectual who was critical of the structures
of domination. She proposed an organic form of liberal humanism as well as a reformist
christianity.
Her efforts in the emancipation of Spanish women emphasized the acknowledgement of human dignity as well as the possibility of women's deliberate and autonomous incorporation
into the social, religious, and working life. These same proposals were shared by liberals who
attempted to recruit, on an international scale, the female half of humanity for the revolution born in the name of liberty, equal rights and the legal right to ownership.