A Companion to Spanish Women's Studies

The study of women's role in society arose as an initiative of the Modern Language Association in 1970, although interest among Hispanists in the role of women in Spanish society was slow in gaining acceptance as a valid academic discipline. The reason for this may be found in the state of Spanish society at the time, when the roles of men and women were closely defined in policies laid down by the dictatorship of General Franco as well as in the conservative attitudes of the Spanish Church. That women had not always been confined to the home and deprived of...