Republican Women

• Women in Republican zones enjoyed unprecedented freedoms and played a significant role in the war effort.  
• In government, the communist Dolores Ibarruri, known as La Pasionaria, played an important role in boosting morale in Madrid. Her powerful speeches in the Spanish Parliament and public meetings, urging the people of Madrid to fight on, were widely reported.  
• Federica Montseny, a well known anarchist, joined Caballero’s government as Minister of Health. In this role, she introduced special clinics for women and was behind the legalisation of abortion in the Republican zone.  
• In the first few weeks of the war, some women joined the communist and anarchist militias and fought on the front lines. The POUM militia encouraged women to join, stating their policy was to share assignments – even those traditionally associated with women.  
• Although less than 1000 women joined the militias, this included Mika Etchebehere. Etchebehere served under her husband’s Hippolyte in a battalion of the POUM militia fighting in the north of Madrid. After her husband’s death, she took over the leadership of the unit. 
• The anarchist group Mujeres Libres (Free Women) had around 20000 members. The group fought to end prostitution by offering training to women working as prostitutes and patrolling red light districts in Catalonia, shooting pimps on sight. In Barcelona, the CNT worked to phase out brothels. The expensive brothels were closed but brothels in working-class areas were collectivised.  
• The communists organised the AMA (Women against Fascism). This mobilised women to help in the war effort, although it did emphasise traditional roles. It had 50000 members working as nurses and organising creches and orphanages. The creches were significant as not only did they employ women, but they allowed women with children to join the labour force. 
• Even though the civil war was a time of liberation for many women, there was never complete sexual equality. The Republican government continued to use stereotypical images of women and some posters emphasised that women were vulnerable and needed to be protected. Propaganda about working women also focused on images of young, conventionally beautiful women.