Catholic Housewives in Transition: The Centres for the Promotion of Women between the Franco Dictatorship and Democracy in Spain (1960–1980)

Abstract

This article aims to study the history of the Centres for the Promotion of Women in relation to the changing religious and gender identities of Spanish women. The first centre was founded by the lay organisation Catholic Action Women in 1959 and similar centres quickly spread across the country, giving access to basic education to many women from a working‐class background. By analysing oral interviews with students and sociocultural organisers, this article will demonstrate how the Centres for the Promotion of Women contributed to the transition from the self‐sacrificing housewife model of the first decades of Franco dictatorship to the more dynamic model of the working woman of the 1960s and 1970s.