International Women's Day
I'm not sure how extensively International Women's Day is celebrated in England these days - most people had pretty much lost interest when I left 18 years ago, believing the job was done. But here in the land of machismo it's a still a big thing and events go on all week in Alcalá, organised by the town hall in conjunction with the adult education centre (SEP Maestra Inmaculada Almagro) and the Asociación de Mujeres de Alcalá de los Gazules (AMAG).
To understand why IWD is still a big deal here, you need to be aware that women's rights arrived much later in Spain than in most of western Europe, held back by nearly forty years of fascist dictatorship under Franco and the influence of the Catholic Church which played a major role in supporting it.
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| IWD march in Cadiz March 2926 |
By 1975, the year of Franco's death, men and women in the UK had equal rights in the eyes of the law. But in Spain adultery, divorce, homosexuality, abortion and owning contraceptives were illegal and domestic violence was largely ignored as a private issue. The new Constitution of 1978 declared gender equality, but at the end of the 1970s only a fifth of Spanish women had paid jobs compared to nearly 60% in the UK, and their average earnings were less than two-thirds of men's. Most men and many older women continued to believe that a woman's place was in the home. Women often had to choose between a professional career and having children.
In the last two decades of the 20th century a number of fairly timid reforms were made, widely supported by the population as a whole but strongly opposed by the Church:
- The sale, advertising and use of contraceptives were decriminalised in 1978, but voluntary sterilization remained a crime, and family planning centres often required proof of marriage. Adultery, which carried a prison sentence of up to six years and punished women far more severely than men, was decriminalised the same year.
- Divorce was legalised in 1981, though to appease the Church the process was designed to be as difficult as possible.
- Abortion was the subject of a law in 1985 which permitted termination but only in cases of rape, foetal abnormalities or risk to a woman's health.
- A court ruling in 1987 decreed that a rape victim no longer had to prove she had fought to defend herself, but marital rape wasn't acknowledged as a thing until 1992.
- In 1989 paid maternity leave was increased from two to 16 weeks for women and two to four days for men. Free preschool education was introduced for children aged 3-6, but nurseries for the under-threes were scarce and expensive and working women relied heavily on grandparents.
- Under Franco sexual abuse of childen was largely ignored. The age of consent was twelve! This was raised to 13 in 1999 but it would be another fifteen years before it was increased to 16 in line with the rest of Europe. At the same time the marriageable age for girls was raised from 14 to 16.
Things started to change more rapidly following the election of a socialist government in 2004, headed by José Luis Zapatero. He declared himself a feminist and appointed equal numbers of men and women to cabinet posts.
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| Zapatero's cabinet of equality |
The first law passed by the Zapatero government in 2004 was all about domestic violence, and it was passed unanimously. It defined violence by current or former partners as a manifestation of discrimination and inequality, therefore anti-constitutional. This included physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Special courts were established and victims were guaranteed free legal aid, advice and social assistance. Equality values were required to be taught in schools, and advertising was monitored for discriminatory content. Public awareness campaigns were launched aimed at both men and women, and news reports about domestic violence still display the dedicated helpline number (016).
The equality law of 2007 was designed to ensure equal rights between men and women in all aspects of life - education, employment, the justice system, and political representation. It criminalised any form of discriminaton on grounds of gender, including sexual harassment, in the workplace. Significantly it put the burden of proof on the defendant rather than the victim.
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| Bibiana Aido Almagro, Spain's first Equality Minister |
Bibiana Aido was born and raised in Alcalá de los Gazules. Her father was the first socialist mayor of the town after the transition to democracy. After an impressive academic career, in 2008 she was elected to the parliament of Andalucia, but she was quickly snapped up by Zapatero to serve in his government as Spain's first Minister of Equality. At 31, she was at that time the country's youngest ever cabinet minister.
Bibiana's biggest challenge was the introduction of a new abortion law, which permitted termination on demand during the first 14 weeks, and up to 22 weeks in cases of foetal impairment or serious risk to the mother. She enraged the Catholic Church by declaring that a foetus of 13 weeks was not a human being. I remember a pro-life demonstration being held here in Alcalá, attended by about a hundred people bussed in from outside the town:
The law was passed in 2010 with widespread popular support. The conservative PP government tried to overturn it in 2013, but that sparked the largest feminist protest yet seen in Spain - the "Freedom Train" which ran right across the country.
Following the PSOE's return to power in 2018 women's rights were back on the agenda. In 2020 two Royal Decrees were passed addressing gender inequality and discrimination in the workplace, specifically on equal pay where the gender gap was still woefully large. In 2022 the "Only Yes is Yes" law eliminated the distinction between sexual abuse and sexual assault, classifying all non-consensual sexual acts as aggression. The government, with an eye on recent events in the USA, is currently working to enshrine abortion as a constitional right to ensure future governments cannot overturn it.
The rise of the far-right and deeply anti-feminist Vox party, currently at around 18% in the polls and with a general election due next year, means that these hard-won rights cannot be taken for granted. Vox have already said they would remove all legislation addressing gender-based violence, which they claim discriminates against men. They have a particularly strong following amongst young males, with around 40% of Spanish men aged 18-14 declaring their intention to vote Vox in a recent poll. The fight isn't over by a long way.
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| Vox poster in Madrid, March 2025 |
The adult education centre in Alcalá (now named SEP Maestra Inmaculada Almagro after one of its founders, the aunt of Bibiana Aido) played a fundamental role in advising women of their rights long before the law made this mandatory in schools. It was initially set up in 1984 by the Junta de Andalucia in their campaign to tackle adult illiteracy, which stood at over 30%. At first many women were reluctant to attend because their husbands didn't approve, but the tenacity of the founders - two of those women who had chosen career over family - gradually broke down this resistance.
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| IWD banner, Alcalá 2020 |
As well as offering free education and workshops, it gave women a social space outside the home where the staff could give informal advice on a wide range of social and healthcare issues. It still plays this role today, but in an official capacity working alongside the Town Hall.
Last November on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (which I bet you never knew existed), the stairs inside the school were decorated with the following message:
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