Gendering Spanish Democracy

Abstract

The political transformation of Spain into one of the world's leading democracies is well established, yet little is known about the differences between men and women's behaviour, experience and achievements during that process. How much did the women's movement contribute to this transformation? How far have policy advocates successfully integrated gender equality into key spheres of public life? Have power relations between women and men been re-balanced? Gendering Spanish Democracy adopts an innovative approach, critically reviewing key institutional processes, policies and systems to reveal the way they function to promote or obstruct gender equity. Both the transition to democracy, equality law reform, and the social welfare re gime are put to the test. The groundbreaking efforts of policy-makers to combat the violence, sexual harassment and low political participation that are intrinsic to women's experience are scrutinised, and the constraints on equality in the field of employment and the family critically investigated.The authors conclude that the recent re-balancing of the gender order in Spain is unexpected and contradictory, being ultimately more effective in political rather than socio-economic arenas.Gendering Spanish Democracy breaks new ground in applying a systematic gender perspective to the analysis of established democracies, and is the first book in English to reveal the unique features of contemporary Spain's evolving gender order. Gendering Spanish DemocracyThe political transformation of Spain into one of the world's leading democracies is well established, yet little is known about the differences between men and women's behaviour, experience and achievements during that process. How much did the women's movement contribute to this transformation? How far have policy advocates successfully integrated gender equality into key spheres of public life? Have power relations between women and men been re-balanced? Gendering Spanish Democracy adopts an innovative approach, critically reviewing key institutional processes, policies and systems to reveal the way they function to promote or obstruct gender equity. Both the transition to democracy, equality law reform, and the social welfare regime are put to the test. The groundbreaking efforts of policy-makers to combat the violence, sexual harassment and low political participation that are intrinsic to women's experience are scrutinised, and the constraints on equality in the field of employment and the family critically investigated.The authors conclude that the recent re-balancing of the gender order in Spain is unexpected and contradictory, being ultimately more effective in political rather than socio-economic arenas.Gendering Spanish Democracy breaks new ground in applying a systematic gender perspective to the analysis of established democracies, and is the first book in English to reveal the unique features of contemporary Spain's evolving gender order. Special thanks are due to the Spanish women's movement activists who launched the wh...

Reciprocity and solidarity in intergenerational relationships: Spain, France and Norway in comparative perspective.

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Three Decades of State Feminism and Gender Equality Policies in Multi-governed Spain

“…Traditionally, the studies done on Spanish state feminism conclude that the relationships between Spanish women's agencies and feminist organizations have typically been tenuous (Valiente 1995;Threlfall et al 2005;Bustelo and Ortbals 2007), with collaboration limited mainly to subsidies, which might have perverse effects on organizations dependent on the state, and advising on equality plans through women's councils. These Consejos de Participación (Women's Councils) are a good indicator of the weak relations between women's movements and the state.…”

License to Care? Migrant Domestic Workers in Spanish Employment and Family Policy

“…The Spanish welfare state has typically been characterized by the normative division between the male breadwinner and the female caretaker. Feminist researchers have widely criticized the ways in which the welfare state attributes a key role to the family and, hence, women's unpaid care and domestic work (Threlfall, Cousins, and Valiente 2005). Since Spain has moved towards a model where both women and men are expected to be waged workers, women's workload within the family is no longer sustainable (Anttonen 2005).…”