The dissertation offers a comprehensive analysis of the political-legal,
organizational, administrative, economic, social, and informational mechanisms
through which the F. Franco regime exercised control over the social roles of women
and men, establishing a patriarchal gender order and excluding women from the
public sphere.
The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a comprehensive
understanding of the mechanisms of implementing the gender policy of the
F. Franco regime as a component of the authoritarian transformation of Spanish
society. Without taking into account the direct and indirect consequences of the
discriminatory policies of this period, it is impossible to fully understand the current
socio-political processes in Spain. The policy of the F. Franco regime aimed at
reproducing the traditionalist, corporate and unitary model of the state, which led to
the formation of a gender control system using political-legal, organizational,
administrative, social, economic and informational mechanisms. Despite a
significant number of works devoted to the ideological principles and specific
political and legal practices (including measures to limit and control women’s social
activity), a comprehensive study of the mechanisms for implementing gender policy
as an institutional system has not yet received adequate coverage in historiography.
The dissertation examines the mechanisms of the F. Franco regime’s gender
policy implementation, based on institutional and gender approaches. The
methodological basis of the research is constituted by the axiological principle,
historicism, and objectivity. These principles facilitated the analysis of historical
phenomena within the context of universal value orientations and specific historical
circumstances, contributing to the scientific reliability of the results. The application
of textual, oral history, iconographic, and sociological methods made it possible to
identify causal links between official ideology, legal regulation, and the everyday
practices of the population.
The application of system-structural, problem-historical, historical-genetic,
and periodization methods facilitated an analysis of gender policy implementation
mechanisms within the institutional framework of Spain’s multidimensional sociopolitical system during the F. Franco regime. The methodological toolkit of gender
studies was used to analyze the processes of social construction of gender roles, their
reproduction mechanisms, and the dynamics of power relations between women and
men within an authoritarian political system.
The dissertation examines the ideological foundations and stages of
transformation of the F. Franco regime’s gender policy implementation
mechanisms. It was determined that the lack of a coherent doctrinal system inherent
in Francoist ideology contributed to its eclectic and conjunctural nature, directly
influencing the formation and implementation of gender policy. During the initial
stage of the regime’s functioning, key ideological tenets included anti-communism,
conservatism, traditionalism, nationalism, «Hispanidad», and the concept of
«Crusade». These were implemented through pedagogical indoctrination, religious
influence, media control, and the ideological construction of gender roles. During
the period of autarky, the dominance of the doctrines of national Catholicism and
«organic democracy» led to the strengthening of the role of religion as a leading
mechanism of ideological influence. The outlined mechanism was implemented
through the intervention of the church in the educational process, censorship and
activities of the «structures of the National Movement». At the final stage, despite
partial liberalization and a crisis of official discourse, religious influence remained
decisive.
