Women, Politics, and Politicisation in Spain (1808–1874)

• Florencia Peyrou ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

     Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
• Localización: Popular Agency and Politicisation in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Beyond the Vote / Oriol Luján Feliu (ed. lit.), Diego Palacios Cerezales (ed. lit.), 2023, ISBN 978-3-031-13519-4, págs. 79-101
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The public–private cleavage in the nineteenth-century historical dynamics is problematic. Even if the metaphor of the two spheres had real institutional effects—women’s disenfranchisement, a segregated educational and judicial system, differential labour laws—, research has shown the extreme fluidity of the frontiers between these spheres. A number of studies have gone beyond traditional emphasis on women’s exclusion from official citizenship throughout the century, on the one hand, and the suffrage movements organised in some countries in order to end this exclusion, on the other. The study of women’s petitions, publications of various kinds, participation in philanthropic, educational, or reformist organisations, or involvement in revolts, demonstrations, and riots, has unearthed a set of practices and experiences connected to political activism. It has shown that many women exercised unconventional forms of citizenship—in the words of Dominique Godineau, a ‘citizenship without political rights’—that allowed them to take part in the political struggles of their time. This involvement depended on a complex interaction between bottom-up practices, historical vicissitudes, the activities of political groups, and the gaps in legislation and normative discourses. This chapter provides a general view of these practices in Spain, focusing on the ways in which women became involved in politics and the social interactions that affected them. It also explores the possible effects of these feminine practices between 1808 and 1874, the years of construction and consolidation of the liberal state.