The representation of women in the school manuals of the second republic and of the first franchism (1931-1945)

Abstract

In the actual article a study on women education in two stages of the History of Spain,
the Second Republic and the first years of the Franquist Dictatorship, is exposed. This research aims
to analyze educational models that existed in these two historical moments and to confront them, to
elucidate if there were differences between them regarding the image of women versus men´s and their
respective roles in society. This study is fulfilled through a historical-educational methodology with
gender perspective. Primary sources consulted are scholar books published between 1931 and 1945 that
allow the analysis of the different discourses in the education and representation of women, through
the following categories: domestic, social, professional and political. In addition, an approach is made
to the study of adjectives what are more frequently attributed to each sex in scholar texts. Despite the
advances Second Republic brought with respect to the rights and freedoms of women, school textbooks
do not show, in some areas, significant differences between both periods. The domestic environment is
presented as the place to which women were destined and domestic tasks as an exclusively feminine
obligation