page_title: Motherhood in the Spanish Civil War
section_title: Sección Femenina de la Falange Española
hierarchical_section_title: Motherhood in the Spanish Civil War / Second Spanish Republic (1931 - 1937) / Organizations / Sección Femenina de la Falange Española
caption_attribution_description: English: Las camaradas de la Sección Femenina de Falange de Santa Marta. Foto cedide por Inés Cabellero de León. 1936.
context_page_description: Motherhood in the Spanish Civil War period was a political concept around the idea of women's involvement in support of the state. The blending of definitions of motherhood and womanhood had been occurring in Spain long before this though, with a woman's role being defined as being in the house part of a biological determinism perspective supported by male run institutions in Spain, including the Government and the Catholic Church.
  The role of motherhood was debated when it came to women's education. Those on the left argued it was important for the emancipation of women, while those on the right argued it was important for preparing girls and young women in becoming mothers. Little changed during the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, except biological determinism became more prominent.
  The Second Spanish Republic allowed them to formally enter the public sphere en masse, while also seeing a number of rights available to women for the first time like the right to vote, divorce and access to higher education. Motherhood became more political, and in some circles gender non-conforming women and mother were met with increased hostility.
context_section_description: Sección Femenina de la Falange Española was founded in 1934. It was led by Pilar Primo de Rivera, sister of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, as an women's auxiliary organization of Falange. Fascist in the mold of Mussolini's Italian party, both organizations were misogynistic in their approach to the goals of building a revolutionary  organic society that would support traditional Spanish values. There were three things they saw as critical to doing this: the family, the municipality and the syndicate.  Using traditional gender roles from the Catholic Church, they would impose their values on women in the home. Given its goals of making women docile participants in civic life, the women's organization does not meet the definition of a feminist organization.  It was the only major Nationalist women's political organization, with a membership of 300 in 1934. By 1939, Sección Femenina would eclipse the male run party in memberships, with over half a million women belonging to the group.
caption: The comrades of Sección Femenina de Falange de Santa Marta.  Photo by Inés Cabellero de León. 1936.
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