What happens to women’s rights when a country transitions from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state? This thesis examines how Spain’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy impacted the advancements of women’s rights through a specific analysis of violence against women. While democratization created the institutional framework for progress, this study contends that structural political change alone is insufficient to dismantle deeply entrenched patriarchal norms. By employing a triangulated methodology that combines historical analysis, thematic analysis of oral testimonies from the Mujer y Memoria database, and statistical trends from the 2022 European Gender-Based Violence Survey, this study provides a multidimensional understanding of how women's rights have evolved from the end of the Franco regime to the present. The findings reveal an underlying culture that enables violence against women, fosters limited institutional trust, and exposes a gap between de jure protections (policies safeguarding women's rights) and de facto realities (lived experiences), ultimately challenging the assumption of linear progress. By foregrounding women’s lived experiences and examining the interplay between legal, institutional, and cultural change, this study contributes to broader debates on democratization, gender justice, and post-authoritarian transition calling for greater intersectional understanding of democratic development.
","abstract_html":"<p>What happens to women’s rights when a country transitions from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state? This thesis examines how Spain’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy impacted the advancements of women’s rights through a specific analysis of violence against women. While democratization created the institutional framework for progress, this study contends that structural political change alone is insufficient to dismantle deeply entrenched patriarchal norms. By employing a triangulated methodology that combines historical analysis, thematic analysis of oral testimonies from the <em>Mujer y Memoria </em>database, and statistical trends from the 2022 European Gender-Based Violence Survey, this study provides a multidimensional understanding of how women's rights have evolved from the end of the Franco regime to the present. The findings reveal an underlying culture that enables violence against women, fosters limited institutional trust, and exposes a gap between de jure protections (policies safeguarding women's rights) and de facto realities (lived experiences), ultimately challenging the assumption of linear progress. By foregrounding women’s lived experiences and examining the interplay between legal, institutional, and cultural change, this study contributes to broader debates on democratization, gender justice, and post-authoritarian transition calling for greater intersectional understanding of democratic development.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Aguilera, Roxanne"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"International Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Victoria Carty","Nancy Rios Contreras","Andrea Molle"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:43Z","subjects":["democratization","gender justice","post-authoritarian Spain","violence against women","Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence","Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication","Global Studies","Other International and Area Studies","Peace and Conflict Studies","Policy History, Theory, and Methods","Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies","Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance","Social Justice"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/international_studies_theses/32","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Victoria Carty","Nancy Rios Contreras","Andrea Molle"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Aguilera, Roxanne"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2027-05-09T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["International Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["democratization","gender justice","post-authoritarian Spain","violence against women","Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence","Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication","Global Studies","Other International and Area Studies","Peace and Conflict Studies","Policy History, Theory, and Methods","Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies","Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance","Social Justice"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/international_studies_theses/32"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["What happens to women’s rights when a country transitions from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state? This thesis examines how Spain’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy impacted the advancements of women’s rights through a specific analysis of violence against women. While democratization created the institutional framework for progress, this study contends that structural political change alone is insufficient to dismantle deeply entrenched patriarchal norms. By employing a triangulated methodology that combines historical analysis, thematic analysis of oral testimonies from the Mujer y Memoria database, and statistical trends from the 2022 European Gender-Based Violence Survey, this study provides a multidimensional understanding of how women's rights have evolved from the end of the Franco regime to the present. The findings reveal an underlying culture that enables violence against women, fosters limited institutional trust, and exposes a gap between de jure protections (policies safeguarding women's rights) and de facto realities (lived experiences), ultimately challenging the assumption of linear progress. By foregrounding women’s lived experiences and examining the interplay between legal, institutional, and cultural change, this study contributes to broader debates on democratization, gender justice, and post-authoritarian transition calling for greater intersectional understanding of democratic development.
"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Aguilera, R. I. (2025). Tracing violence against women from the Francoist dictatorship to democratic Spain [Master's thesis, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000692"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Tracing Violence Against Women from the Francoist Dictatorship to Democratic Spain"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Victoria Carty","Nancy Rios Contreras","Andrea Molle"],"dc:creator":["Aguilera, Roxanne"],"dc:date.available":["2027-05-09T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["What happens to women’s rights when a country transitions from an authoritarian regime to a democratic state? This thesis examines how Spain’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy impacted the advancements of women’s rights through a specific analysis of violence against women. While democratization created the institutional framework for progress, this study contends that structural political change alone is insufficient to dismantle deeply entrenched patriarchal norms. By employing a triangulated methodology that combines historical analysis, thematic analysis of oral testimonies from the Mujer y Memoria database, and statistical trends from the 2022 European Gender-Based Violence Survey, this study provides a multidimensional understanding of how women's rights have evolved from the end of the Franco regime to the present. The findings reveal an underlying culture that enables violence against women, fosters limited institutional trust, and exposes a gap between de jure protections (policies safeguarding women's rights) and de facto realities (lived experiences), ultimately challenging the assumption of linear progress. By foregrounding women’s lived experiences and examining the interplay between legal, institutional, and cultural change, this study contributes to broader debates on democratization, gender justice, and post-authoritarian transition calling for greater intersectional understanding of democratic development.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/international_studies_theses/32"],"dc:source":["Aguilera, R. I. (2025). Tracing violence against women from the Francoist dictatorship to democratic Spain [Master's thesis, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000692"],"dc:subject":["democratization","gender justice","post-authoritarian Spain","violence against women","Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence","Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication","Global Studies","Other International and Area Studies","Peace and Conflict Studies","Policy History, Theory, and Methods","Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies","Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance","Social Justice"],"dc:title":["Tracing Violence Against Women from the Francoist Dictatorship to Democratic Spain"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["International Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:43Z"}