Spain is set to formally pardon a group of 53 women who were among thousands incarcerated by the Franco regime on the grounds that they were deemed "fallen or in danger of falling." These women, locked up as adolescents by the Board for the Protection of Women, will have their punishments nullified in a ceremony next week, as the government recognises them as victims of Francoist repression.
Historical Context of the Women's Protection Board
The Board for the Protection of Women was a collection of institutions run by religious orders, overseen by Carmen Polo, the wife of dictator General Francisco Franco. Originally founded in 1902 to combat sex work, its role expanded in 1941, two years after the Spanish Civil War, to clamp down on female behaviour that deviated from norms set by the Catholic Church. The board, which echoed Ireland's notorious Magdalene laundries, operated until 1985, a decade after Franco's death.
Victims' Stories and Institutional Impact
One woman was imprisoned on suspicion of being a lesbian simply because she wrote a letter discussing sexuality. Eva García de la Torre, who later became the mayor of a small town in Galicia after her release in 1985, was the first officially recognised victim of the Board; she died in 2022. Another was detained for being "too fond of the street." The government department investigating the Board has received 1,600 declarations from women who passed through these institutions.
Public Complicity and Cultural Stigma
Historian Carmen Guillén notes that the Board relied on broad public support, with families and neighbours often denouncing young women to authorities. "People had assimilated ideas of what made a 'good' or 'bad' woman," Guillén said, describing it as a form of panoptic control. The stigma attached to survivors has kept the Board's work largely undiscussed until recently.
Government Action and Victims' Responses
A statement from the ministry of democratic memory declared that any punishment suffered by these women, whether legal or administrative, is null and void as it resulted from "repression and violence exercised by the Board for the Protection of Women for political, ideological reasons or because of their gender." Last year, religious orders that ran the Board offered a public apology, but victims' representatives have rejected the pardon, demanding "truth, justice, and reparations" instead.
