The Sección Femenina ("Female Section"; SF) was the women's branch of the Falange political movement in Spain. Founded in July 1934 as part of the Sindicato Español Universitario (SEU) of the Falange Española de las JONS (FE de las JONS), and fully incorporated to FE de las JONS later in the year, it remained as part of the FET y de las JONS following the 1937 Unification Decree, subsequently becoming an official institution of the single-party of the Francoist dictatorship. Following General Franco's death and the beginning of the transition to democracy it was disbanded on 1 April 1977 together with all Movimiento Nacional institutions. Sección Femenina was led throughout its history by Pilar Primo de Rivera, the younger sister of Falange Española founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera.
Sección Femenina in Francoist Spain were an important organization in defining Spanish womanhood. They were part of fascist organization Falange, with their ideology based on the teachings of the party's founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera and implemented by his sister, Pilar Primo de Rivera. Their social structure in the Francoist period mirrored that of Falange.
Sección Feminina's post-war activity involved conveying to women that they were inferior to men, and that the primary role of women in helping the Spanish state was through their domestic contributions. The Castillo de la Mota in Medina del Campo was the center of the Escuela Superior de Formación de la Sección Femenina in the Francoist period. Its inauguration was attended by 10,000 girls and young women. The organization published magazines and produced radio shows to support their concept of Spanish womanhood. They also organized a social service program which women needed to go through in order to get a passport, drivers license, join an association or obtain educational titles.
History
Sección Femenina was conceived from the beginning as an extension of the domestic role of women to the public sphere, though it took part in political activities during the 1936 general election campaign. During the Second Republic the members of Sección Femenina supported the male Falangists in tasks such as paying visits to imprisoned members and their families. Following the breakout of the Civil War in 1936 they supported the families of those killed in the National faction and took care of the basic assistance to the population of conquered cities. In 1937 Sección Femenina became an official institution as Franco entrusted it the organization of Servicio Social de la Mujer (Social Service for Women), a compulsory female equivalent of the Francoist military service centered in housework. The Castle of La Mota in Medina del Campo, Valladolid served as its headquarters from 1942.
Initially Sección Femenina was organised in three delegaciones: Movimiento femenino (led by Pilar Primo de Rivera), Auxilio Social (led by Mercedes Sanz Bachiller, the widow of Onésimo Redondo) and Frentes y Hospitales (led by María Rosa Urraca Pastor). The three leaders did not work together well. Following constant clashes with Primo de Rivera, Urraca resigned in 1938 and Sanz was marginalized after the Civil War.
Ideology
Pilar Primo de Rivera summed up the organization's mission as a silent, constant labor that will bring us no compensation but thinking how thanks to Falange's work women will be cleaner, children will be healthier and houses will be tidier. Sección Femenina's main role was instructing Spanish women in Francoist patriotic, religious and social morals. Women were taught they were inferior to men and should remain subordinated to them, with marriage, children and housework being their main goals in life. They were discouraged from developing their creative talent, which Primo de Rivera denied: Women never discover anything. They lack creative talent, reserved by God for virile intellects. We can do no more than interpret what men present to us. Isabella I of Castile and Saint Teresa of Ávila served as Sección Femenina's inspirational models.