Mary Nash

Political culture, Catalan nationalism, and the women's movement in early twentieth-century Spain

Abstract This article discusses the relationship between political culture, state construction, and Catalan nationalism in relation to the development of the womens movement in early 20th century Catalonia. The historical understanding of Spanish feminisms has to account for political diversity, central state national values, and nationalist cultural identity in the articulation of the diverse strands of the womens movement. This study also argues that the liberal identification of feminism with the struggle for female enfranchisement constitutes an insufficient interpretative framework for the study of historical feminism in Spain. Feminism is explored as a social movement that is shaped by womens collective historical experience and social apprenticeship in social movements, political culture, and gender realities. In this case, it is argued that the social itinerary of Catalan women through their integration into the Catalan nationalist movement structured their collective expectations and shaped their view of feminism.