The Sección Femenina ("Female Section"; SF) was the women's branch of the Falange political movement in Spain. Founded in 12 July 1934 as part of the Sindicato Español Universitario (SEU) of the Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS), and fully incorporated to FE de las JONS later in the year, it remained as part of the FET y de las JONS following the 1937 Unification Decree, subsequently becoming an official institution of the single-party of the Francoist dictatorship. Following General Franco's death and the beginning of the transition to democracy, it was disbanded on 7 April 1977 together with all Movimiento Nacional institutions.Profile of Sección Femenina in Palencia's Provincial Historical Archive's website Sección Femenina was led throughout its history by Pilar Primo de Rivera, the younger sister of Falange Española founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera.
Sección Femenina in Francoist Spain were an important organization in defining Spanish womanhood. They were part of fascist organization Falange, with their ideology based on the teachings of the party's founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera and implemented by his sister, Pilar Primo de Rivera. Their social structure in the Francoist period mirrored that of Falange.
Sección Feminina's post-war activity involved conveying the primary role of women was in helping the Spanish state and their families through domestic contributions. The Castillo de la Mota in Medina del Campo was the center of the Escuela Superior de Formación de la Sección Femenina in the Francoist period. Its inauguration was attended by 10,000 girls and young women. The organization published magazines and produced radio shows to support their concept of Spanish womanhood. They also organized a social service program which women needed to go through in order to get a passport, drivers license, join an association or obtain educational titles.
History
Sección Femenina was conceived from the beginning as an extension of the domestic role of women to the public sphere, though it took part in political activities during the 1936 general election campaign.Synopsis of the article From the creation of Sección Femenina to the 1936 electoral campaign: modalities of intervention of Falangist women in the public sphere by Christine Lavail in the University of Granada's magazine Revista Arenal, Vol. 15 No. 2 During the Second Republic the members of Sección Femenina supported the male Falangists in tasks such as paying visits to imprisoned members and their families. Following the breakout of the Civil War in 1936 they supported the families of those killed in the National faction and took care of the basic assistance to the population of conquered cities. In 1937 Sección Femenina became an official institution as Franco entrusted it the organization of Servicio Social de la Mujer (Social Service for Women), a compulsory female equivalent of the Francoist military service centered in housework.Do you remember? The women's mili. Radiotelevisión Española The Castle of La Mota in Medina del Campo, Valladolid served as its headquarters from 1942.His Excellence the Head of State made donation of the Castle of La Mota to Selección Femenina de Falange as school of their mandos and pronounced in the trascendental ceremony a speech of utmost importance. ABC, 30 May 1942
Initially Sección Femenina was organised in three delegaciones: Movimiento femenino (led by Pilar Primo de Rivera), Auxilio Social (led by , the widow of Onésimo Redondo) and Frentes y Hospitales (led by María Rosa Urraca Pastor). The three leaders did not work together well. Following constant clashes with Primo de Rivera, Urraca resigned in 1938 and Sanz was marginalized after the Civil War.
With the outbreak of the Civil War and the defeat and exile of the Republic in 1939, the Lyceum Club Femenino was dismantled and became the "Medina Club", run by the Sección Femenina.
Ideology
Pilar Primo de Rivera summed up the organization's mission as a silent, constant labor that will bring us no compensation but thinking how thanks to Falange's work women will be cleaner, children will be healthier and houses will be tidier.Carmen Domingo, Con voz y voto, page 322. Lumen, 2004 Sección Femenina's main role was instructing Spanish women in Francoist patriotic, religious and social morals. Women were taught they were inferior to men and should remain subordinated to them, with marriage, children and housework being their main goals in life. They were discouraged from developing their creative talent, which Primo de Rivera denied: Women never discover anything. They lack creative talent, reserved by God for virile intellects. We can do no more than interpret what men present to us.Stanley G. Payne, Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977, page 324. University of Wisconsin Press Isabella I of Castile and Saint Teresa of Ávila served as Sección Femenina's inspirational models.A historian accounts the political use of Isabel la Católica and Santa Teresa. El Mundo
Historian Marie-Aline Barrachina has observed a contrast between the Falangist ideal of the Spanish woman and the Falangist ideal of the Falangist woman. While the Section praised the housewife and mother, lots of Section officers saw themselves as a vanguard, were single, had no children and worked outside home, sometimes confronting male peers. Unlike the religion-centered women of , female Falangists were political in their service of fascism. Historians debate this contrast between their preaching and their practice.
Women's sports Sección Femenina also organized women's sports and promoted musical folklore.Profile of the Sección Femenina Folklore Archive in Biblioteca Nacional de España's website In 1963 it founded the Medina (in allusion to Medina del Campo) and CREFF (Colegios Reunidos de Educación Física Femenina) sports societies and created the first regular national women's leagues in Spain for sports such as basketball, handball and volleyball. While the leagues were not restricted to Medina and CREFF teams, they were mostly comprised by them; for instance, by 1973 the handball league was contested by the Medina sections in A Coruña, Castellón, Gipuzkoa, Málaga, Santander, Valencia (which would later become European champion BM Sagunto) and Zaragoza plus Atlético Madrid.Teucro and Barcelona contest today the final of the league's First Division. El Mundo Deportivo However, by then the sports societies had become a severe financial strain for Sección Femenina and in 1974 the teams were told to find a sponsor. Most of them folded subsequently.Concepción Carbajosa, Involvement of Asturian women in sports, 1939–1977, page 325. University of Oviedo Publishing Service
History of Falange
Second Spanish Republic The Franco regime banned all political parties and trade unions. The only permissible type organization was Falange, founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933. Pilar Primo de Rivera headed the women's section, following its founding in 1933 as an auxiliary of the main organization. In this Second Republic period, both organizations had little popular support. It was not until the Civil War and the need for Francoist to have a vehicle for legitimacy that the party and its auxiliaries gained widespread support on the right.
Falange saw in this Second Republic and Civil War Period a threat from a variety of different actors to what it perceived as the traditional way of Spanish life that it sought to preserve. These actors included women who sought social and political liberation, and they were viewed by Falange as a threat to the established order of Spanish life.
Falange differed from other right wing nationalist groups at the time in that it had elements focused on social justice, and addressing the specific needs of the working classes. Among their goals was the nationalization of banks and public services, the creation of a workers syndicate, and the separation of church and state. This contrasted from other conservatives who sought to protect the financial assets of the elite.
One of the early problems for Sección Femenina was José Antonio used Falange to criticize the role of women in the Second Republic and to attack things like the law that allowed divorce but at the same time failed to articulate how right leaning women could act in support of the state he sought. The only clear position Falange offered was that women needed to be educated so that they could best serve the needs of the Spanish empire.
Spanish Civil War
By the start of the war in July 1936, Sección Femenina had 2,500 members nationwide organized into 18 different province based branches. The death of Jose Antonio at the hands of Republican forces in November 1936 left Pilar feeling empowered to carry on his work, claiming the need to finish what he had started. She took a firm hand to lead the Women's Section of Falange during the Spanish Civil War. Pilar would continue to head the organization for another 43 years after its 1934 founding.
Margaritas served behind the front lines as nurses, which meant Sección Femenina had to find another visible role. They did this by serving as relief workers. While Pilar had been in Madrid when the war broke out and could not flee until October 1936, she moved to Salamanca where Nationalist coup supporters had proven more successful. Meanwhile, Sección Femenina established a provisional headquarters in Valladolid. During the war, women affiliated with Sección Femenina spread propaganda, sewed flags, visited Falangist prisoners in jail, supported families of prisoners and engaged in large scale fundraising activities in support of nationalist causes. Sección Femenina trained instructors and health practitioners, and in the process developed a number of strong female leaders. The organization also created territorial based sub-entities to implement their wider agenda of controlling women across Spain.
Sección Femenina held their first national conference in January 1937, which allowed for the organization for the first time to highlight their accomplishments with support from the Nationalist established Spanish state. By 1939, Sección Femenina had a membership of over 580,000 women nationwide.
Political context In July 1936, the Spanish Civil War started with a military coup attempt launched from the Spanish enclave of Melilla. In October of that same year, Franco took over as the Generalissimo and Chief of State in Nationalist zones. On 19 April 1937, Catholic and Falangist parties were merged, making Falange Española Tradicionalista the official state party behind Nationalist lines. On 30 January 1938, the first National State Cabinet meeting was held, with the Spanish Civil War formally coming to an end on 1 April 1939 and an official government formalized on 8 August 1939.
The Franco regime banned alternative political parties and trade unions. The only permissible political organization was Falange. During the Franco regime, membership in the Women's Section was a requirement for all women. A referendum was held in 1966, where people were given the option to affirm or deny the organization of the state. With massive support, Franco was affirmed as Head of State. Prince Juan Carlos was appointed as Franco's official successor in 1970, with Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco being the unofficial successor. Carrero Blanco was assassinated in 1973 by ETA. Franco died in November 1975.
Organization