First steps towards equality: Spanish women in higher education (1910-1936)

Abstract

The current academic year 2010-2011 marks a century of the presence of Spanish women in university classrooms. The objective of this article is to outline the extent of women’s presence in higher education until 1936, and the initiatives that emerged in Spanish society that advocated this female presence. The paper is based on an in-depth study of the scientific literature on the topic. They concern books that vary greatly in genre, written from widely different perspectives. The paper’s originality lies in the endeavour to compare these studies (something which has not been done thus far) and to compile a summary that organically presents the extent of Spanish women’s admission into universities. It is centered on the two most significant initiatives that upheld this movement: the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE, Free Institute for Education) and the Institución Teresiana (Teresian Institute). The social milieu depicted is that of the bourgeois and erudite middle class, which was not very extensive, and in many cases, had little wealth. Up until the Spanish Civil War, this was the environment from which the majority of female university students emerged.