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Women in the Spain Economy
During the Franco dictatorship, women found themselves living under a conservative gender ideology where the nationalization of who they were became labeled as being consumers and producers of the market economy. Under the authoritarian system being dictated by Franco, nationalistic pride situated women in a role meant to serve best the state and the nation which consisted in the domestic work of nurturing and caring for children. If these roles steered outside the household they were best funneled through the work sector of teaching and nursing. The culture of Spain with its fluctuation of political leadership visibly demonstrates the fluctuation of sovereignty for women’s rights in the country. Between 1931-1936, the Second Republic generated legislation for women granting them new rights of which they were deprived of prior to. During this period of time, European countries were experiencing a movement towards the equalization of the sexes and that was reflected in the constitution of the new Republic which extensively accorded women legitimate status under laws on civil marriage and divorce. With Franco’s uprising into dictatorship, legal measures that progressed women into the social and economic sector of equal access into the labor market became restricted once again under the desire of restricting women to the confines of the private sphere of domestic work.

The period of transition to democracy carved the way for the reemergence of women in social and economic participation. A revival of sorts for women took initiative in the late 1970’s with the re-emergence of legality in the social atmosphere of Spain, in particular to the restoration of free and equal access to work and right to hire. With women being able to return to the workplace a significant shift took place in relation to the family life, where domestic life for women was shifting away from normality and into career pursuits. During La Transicion, participation rates in the labor force steadily grew due to structural shifts in education and birth rate decreases which impacted an increased rate in 1975 of 30.20, followed by 34.71 in 1982, and 41.20 in 1986. In addition to the progression of women in the workforce, the elimination of Franco’s “Fuera del Trabajo” in 1938, which enforced the replacement of women workers with men, serves as a reminder of how far woman have come in terms of women’s active role in the economic development of Spain. Although progress has been made, it is still from being considered a pure gender equal state. A wage gap exists in Spain where in 2005, women residing in Spain earned less than what men did by 72 percent.

Due to legislation better serving opportunities for women, this once marginalized group has seen progress within the country of Spain, but not to the extent of where it needs to be in the 21st century. On March 8th of 2018, Spain underwent a 24 hour strike on International Women’s Day where women were backed by unions in support of gender equality between women and men. Roughly 5.3 million people went on strike which was representative of both men and women participation since Spain’s union laws prohibit strikes if applied to one of the sexes, ultimately resulting in a turnout representing 11 percent of the population and 23 percent of the labor force. Justification for the strike appeared to be approved by 82 percent of people, and, as argued by the participants of the strike, although previous legislation has to an extent helped women, Spain’s public sector still finds that men make an average of 13 percent more than women and 19 percent more than women in the private sector. In 2016, women in the European Union were on average earning gross hourly earnings 16.2 percent below those of their male counterparts. According to reports by Eurostat, the “explained” gender gap in Spain is roughly 4 percent in account of variation in characteristics for both women and men in regards to the occupational and sectoral segregation in the labor markets.