From the creation of the Women’s Section of Falange (1934) to the electoral campaign in 1936: modalities of falangist women’s intervention in the public sphere

Abstract

The founding of the Women’s Section of the Falange, despite signifying that the Falangists accept a certain presence of “their” women in the public sphere, defends a feminine model anchored in the private area. Its activities are essentially social, conceived as an extension of the domestic role of women into the public sphere. In 1936, however, with the electoral campaign, these roles seem to be extended to the political domain.

The present study aims to analyse the meaning and the reality of this apparent evolution of the Women’s Section with its contradictions and its difficulty in positioning itself between the public and the private spheres. These contradictions become clear in the figure of Rosario Pereda, chief of the Women’s Section of Valladolid, who was a recognized orator esteemed by her masculine comrades.