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Period: to
Gender Roles
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Penal Code of 1870, Commerce Code of 1885, Civil Code of 1889
These laws all put women in a subordinate position to men. -
Women's Chair Law
Every factory and establishment in Spain was henceforth obliged to give a place of rest to any woman worker and the Law of Gradual Suspension of night work for women was declared. -
Equal Pay Law
The Spanish Constitution of the Republic formally recognized the equality between men and women. This law was supposed to establish equal salary for the same work regardless of gender. -
Women's Suffrage
1931 Constitution granted suffrage to women. -
Abortion Legalized
Abortion was made legal in 1932 but was quickly repealed by Franco. -
Women's Rights in 1932
Laws on divorce and civil mariiage were passed.
The crime of adultery was abolished and legal measures ensuring women's equal access to the labour market were taken.
Women were given full legal status. -
Work Legislation of 1938
Would “free” the married women from the shops and workplace and declared the family and home to be the “foundation of society”. -
Franco Dictatorship
Numerous republican and democratic laws were abolished, like the laws on civil marriage and divorce. Abortion was severely punished. Women's legal ability was greatly restricted, and subjected to the authority of the father or the husband. -
Women's Rights in the Workplace
Although women were supposed to have been given equal pay under the 1931 pay law, the new Government has again amended the Spanish Constitution to ensure equal rights for women, with the same salary for the same work, irrespective of gender. -
Education Law
A law was passed establishing equal rights and a co-education system giving free and compulsory schooling to children of both sexes until the age of 14 years. -
Roe v. Wade
U.S. Supreme Court makes abortion legal. -
Women's Right to Work Law
(This outdated law which stated that if a woman wishing to take up employment she must first obtain her husband’s, or if single, her father’s written permission to be able to work) was repealed releasing Spanish women from one of the last restraints on their rights to emancipation. -
Begin Trasition to Democracy
Women's legal ability was restored and extended : free and equal access to work and the right to hire were recognized to women. This period also saw the revival of women's liberation movements with their specific cultural means of expression (magazines, bookstores, editorials...). -
Equal Civil and Poltical Rights for Women
Women's civil and political rights were recognized by the new Spanish Constitution and the law which made adultery by women a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment was abolished. -
Birth Control
The right for pharmaceutical companies to advertise and sell contraceptive products was legalized. -
Constitution of 1978
Equality principle clearly defined in the Constitution: 'The Spanish are equal in the eyes of the law, and no discrimination by birth, race, sex, religion, opinion or any other condition or circumstance, private or social, can prevail " (Art. 14 CE) -
CEDAW
Spain is signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly -
Matrimony and Divorce Act
Men and women are to be judged equal partners in Law in relation to matrimonial matters. This law recogized civil and religious marriages and made divorce legal. -
Organic Law 9 (Abortion Act)
Abortion Act passed by Spanish parliament that says a woman can get an abortion in three cases: serious risk to physical or mental health of the mother, rape, or defects to the fetus. -
Professional Women's Act
This allowed the incorporation of women into the professional and security bodies of the state. The IRIS NET was created to promote the vocational training of women. -
Women in Parliament
For the first time in history there is a female VP and an equal number of male and female ministers.
