Tracing Violence Against Women from the Francoist Dictatorship to Democratic Spain

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

International Studies

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Aguilera, Roxanne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Victoria Carty
• Nancy Rios Contreras
• Andrea Molle

• 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

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/international_studies_theses/32

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:international_studies_theses-1037