Women Archetype and Female Physical Education during Franco's Dictatorship

Abstract

The subject of this paper consists on the ideal of women in Spain during Franco's dictatorship (1939–1975) and how it was transmitted through women Physical Education and female sports, directed by the Women Section. The research focuses on the concepts and values from different fields (political, professional, cultural, religious, etc.) which described women and determined their life during this period, and which showed through physical and sport activities specific to this gender. The research is justified and put into context in the first part of the paper. In the second part of the paper, the female model as proposed by the ideology of the dictatorship is described, and how this model was reflected in female Physical Education – both in the initial training of female teachers and in the proposed practices for Spanish women. In the third part of the paper, some of the contradictions of the Women Section regarding the woman archetype are exposed, as well as the final conclusions of this investigation.