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century, Spain remained unmoved. The
birth of the Second Republic in 1931 saw
the granting of at least some elements of
equality to all citizens, but the clock was
turned back eight years later when the
republic fell. Only near the end of the
F
RANCO
dictatorship, when some of his
more progressive advisers loosened the sub-
jugation of wives to their husbands, was
any significant change in prospect.
With the coming of democracy after the
dictator's death in 1975 the subject of wom-
en's rights became one of the most debated
in the “new Spain.” Public opinion polls
suggested that most men were favorable to
reform in this area, although with widely
varying levels of tolerance. Not surprisingly
women were overwhelmingly interested in
improving their situation, although many
were ambivalent about possible problems,
both moral and material. Perhaps for this
reason the question of women's rights
remained unresolved for decades. Both
those who expected a social revolution to
sweep across the Spanish nation and those
who anticipated that political and religious
traditionalists would mobilize overwhelm-
ing opposition to “modernism” encoun-
tered instead a complex and confusing
process that dragged on through the first 25
years of the “new age.” Straightforward
change based on fundamental principles of
citizenship and constitutional law were rel-
atively easy to achieve. The number of
women who became legislators, judges, and
even cabinet ministers was significant,
although not overwhelmingly impressive.
But even the proper political forum for pur-
suing women's rights created debates. Did
women have the best chance for securing
their goals through a feminist party, as L
IDIA
F
ALCÓN
argued, or through activism in the
ranks of the old established parties? The
emancipation of women from the long-
established rule of male head of household
broke down into a multitude of legislative
wrangles and court cases, with the general
trend toward a woman's rights in matters
such as divorce, personal property, relations
and responsibilities toward her children,
and protection from domestic abuse being
positive but slowly established. Opportuni-
ties for a full range of educational choices
took women along many new career paths,
with their access to professions such as law,
medicine, and even the military demon-
strably improved. In business there were
advancements into the executive ranks,
although statistically they seemed to be
concentrated in certain fields, such as phar-
maceuticals, where “the woman's touch”
appeared more appropriate. Major corpora-
tions and “power-house” industries
remained male dominated. The “glass ceil-
ing” was still in place for Spanish women as
the 21st century began.
One symbolic achievement appeared in
prospect by 2006. Spain had historically
ignored the prohibition that existed in
many other European monarchies against a
female ruler. Both Isabella I and I
SABELLA
II
had to contend with male rivals, but after
500 years the monarchy still appeared to
serve a purpose for most Spaniards, and the
succession laws still permitted a female
monarch. Yet a king's son would always
take priority over his older daughters. Thus
Juan Carlos I's son, Philip, Prince of Asturias,
stood in the line of succession ahead of his
two older sisters. When Philip's wife, Prin-
cess Letizia, bore their first child, a daughter
named Leonor, many Spanish women
began agitating for a change in the succes-
sion law, similar to one made in recent
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