Guardianship in Francoist Spain and the democratic transition

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Guardianship in Francoist Spain (1939-1975) and the democratic transition (1975-1985) was a system which provided husbands and fathers with tremendous legal control over women. Male members of the family were able to transfer legal control of their daughters over to the state. One of the developments after the Civil War was the restoration of the Civil Code of 1889 by the Franco regime. This made women dependents of their husbands and fathers with men controlling not only the custody of their children, but their bank accounts, contracts, nationality and residency. Women did not reach the age of majority until 21, 25 if they were unmarried or not in a convent. Before 1963, husbands and fathers who killed their wives and daughters whom they discovered committing adultery or having sex outside marriage incurred only the symbolic punishment of destierro.^[1] Before the 1970s, women were banned from many professions. Until 1970, the husband could give a family's child to adoption without the consent of his wife.^[2]

Although minor legal reforms were made in the 1950s and 1960s, largely as a result of economic pressures, and more important reforms were enacted in the 1970s, discriminatory laws remained in force until the 1980s. Reforms around eliminating guardianship accelerated in the 1970s, before the death of Franco. They included the relinquishment of controls over nationality, children's custody and inheritance, while men no longer automatically became the default head of household. In 1975, the permiso marital was abolished, improving the legal status of married women.^[3] Reforms accelerated in the democratic transition period. The 1978 Spanish constitution gave men and women equality under the law, effectively ending the Franco regime's system of guardianship for single women. A new family law was enacted in 1981, giving married women full civil rights, and legalizing divorce. In 1985, the law ended the practice in regard to minor girls abusively taken into state custody, as it no longer allowed minors to be placed under the control of the state for their own protection.^[4]