Historical models - Contemporary identities: The seccion femenina of the Spanish Falange and its redefinition of the term 'femininity'

The Spanish Falange was established in Madrid in November 1933 in an attempt to offer new solutions to the severe social and political problems which assailed Spanish society throughout the years of the Second Republic (1931-36) and to the perceived inability of the conservative Right effectively to face the growing threat to Spain's religious and territorial unity. The Sección Femenina of the Falange (SF), which was founded in June 1934, existed for 43 years, reaching at its height a membership of over 680,000. Yet despite its impressive size and diverse activities, it received little attention from historians prior to the 1990s, partly due to a prevailing tendency of Spanish historiography to view women in right-wing entities as having little autonomy or independent authority. This article demonstrates that by using its relative organizational autonomy the SF was able to construct a new 'discourse on femininity' and to offer its members an identity which would take into account their self-perceptions as both women and Falangists in Francoist society. 'Naturalizing' and appropriating some so-called virile attributes such as heroism, forcefulness and intelligence served to establish a meaningful place for both the SF and its members on the public stage of Franco's 'New Spain'.