Sisters in believes, sisters in fight. Rationalist women, republican culture and civil society of the restoration of Spanish monarchy

Abstract

This article examines the origins, discourses, civic projects and life experiences of one of the most representative group example of secular feminism in Spain: the Sociedad Progresiva Femenina (Women's Progressive Society), founded in Barcelona in 1898. The long history of this society is linked to the vicissitudes of radical republicanism, to Masonic works, to the development of the first wave of anticlericalism of the 20th century, as well as to the evolution of the feminist postulates prior to the First World War. The society was a "school of women citizens" where rationalist feminist identities were modelled. In this specific context, a great number of women fighters appeared in four fronts: education, journalism, pacifism and laicism.