«The power of motherhood […], free of obstacles, will amply fulfil its eternal mission». Feminism and motherhood in the early 20th century Spain

Abstract

Historical analysis carried out on feminism in early 20th-century Spain has emphasised its social nature. Similar to other feminisms of the time in Southern and Central Europe, Spanish feminism advocated women’s social rights (education, equal pay, workers’ protection) over suffrage, at least until the First World War. This article aims to contribute to the debate on social feminism from a notion of the social as the epistemological frame pervaded by social hygiene and social medicine, in which historical feminism and its demands could conform and deploy. With this analytical horizon in mind, the specific meaning with which motherhood was endowed at the beginning of the 20th century is explored, not only as one of the core values of womanhood as understood by feminists but also as a nuclear argument articulating their demands for civil, social and political rights. In order to offer a contextualised depiction and hopefully a more accurate explanation of social feminism, different feminist voices will be heard through their writings, press articles and conferences. The major conclusions of this analysis points to the active role of motherhood in fashioning and presenting feminism as a social and national movement for reform and regeneration through women–mothers. Motherhood orientated feminist action and objectives towards women and children’s well-being and healthcare, and it was used to legitimate and demand civil and political rights. But defining women’s’ interests, demanding social rights, as well as including mother and child protection in their programmes, were not a natural tendency of women or feminists, but the product of a complex historical construction in which the new rationality of the social, pervaded by gender differences, generated a new space for intervention from different knowledges and practices.