THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT ESSAY

THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT  (Ana San Frutos)

Is it fair that a woman has to ask permission to her husband to open a bank account? Until the 50's the life of Ana Tudón (my grandmother) depended on her father or her husband when she got married. She is the person interviewed, and her personal experience is reflected in this essay.

Because of the feminist movement that began in Spain in the last fifteen years, in the nineteenth century the thinking of many women changed. This movement advocated gender equality related with the laws. One of the women who fought to change that way of thinking about women in society was my grandmother. She fought in her personal situation, like many other women. In this essay we will explain some of the most important aspects of woman life in those years, which shows the lack of freedom that they had to drive their life. I am going to talk about marriage and it consequences. It is important to relate the marriage with the employment status of women, that it was related to the total economic dependence they had on their husbands and social pressure by seeking some independence. I also will point out the appearance of contraceptive methods. The last point will be education that helped women gradually to get more independence in their lives.

Learn to sew, cook well, take into account her husband needs… Girls were educated in order to stay at home with the children and prepare the house, while her husband controlled the economy in the house. When my grandmother was 12, his parents could only pay the studies for one of their children. My grandmother had a brother, Julio, and he received the formal education, because their parents considerer that my grandmother wouldn’t need the education for her future. Even many of the women who had the privilege of having some college education did not come to practice. When my grandmother was 16 she found a job that provided some economic freedom, but with the little salary that she earned, she had to help her parents to pay his brother studies. Years later, when she talked with her boss and told him that she was going to get married she was discharged immediately. This is one of the situations that all women found when they decided to get married.

Married or single, all women needed permission from a male, whether her husband, father or brother for any economic process. When my grandmother got married several years later, she got permission from my grandfather to find a part-time job. He thought that this would be good for the economy of the house, provided she wouldn’t neglect her work or at home. In the new job, one of the conditions was to open a bank account. When my grandmother went to the bank will not let her to open the account without the permission and signature of her husband, and even that has had to be in the name of the two. In addition, male co-workers of my grandmother charge a 20 percent more for the same job.

Social pressure at the time was very strong, both by men and women themselves. My grandmother considers that she was a lucky woman, in the sense that her husband was a very permissive person, compared with the other man of the moment. He went to buy bread!, something that was surprisingly, in those days. Returning from church on Sunday, he went to the kiosk, bought the newspaper and approached the bakery, and wrapped the bread in the newspaper, so he was more hidden and not have to hear the typical phrases like "wimp". On the other hand, my grandmother decided to get a driving license (for which also had to have the consent of my grandfather). The comments among women in the building soon to appear (perhaps in part to feel that another woman had an independence that they would like to have), not to mention the insults that many men directed to women who were driving on the roads.

As I mentioned earlier, women were educated to have children and take care of the house. The appearance of contraceptive methods helped women to decide when they wanted to be mothers, and delaying motherhood. But in these years was still frowned upon to use them. As many people say, information is power, and gradually had a greater number of women studying in Spanish universities. The training allows the development of critical thinking, to create your own opinion and that's something nobody can take away. Because of education women had increasingly criterion of choice, and drive their lives. This is how my grandmother educated her daughters, instilling the idea of ​​being an independent person.

In conclusion, we must continue fighting for equality between men and women, because despite the great changes that have been happening over the last 50 years there are still things to change, because even today there are women for pay less than men for equal work. Social pressure is one of the things that have been more difficult to change, because you can act on your feminist ideals, but people around you, that in most situations the social pressure was enormous.

To finish I want to share a phrase that my grandmother always says and that I think can summarize the topic perfectly:  “The freedom of women is in their economic independence”. 

ANA SAN FRUTOS