Legal perspective on women's right to vote in Spain during the Second Republic (1931-1936)

Abstract

The regulation of women's suffrage rights in Spain during the Second Republic finds its origins with the proclamation of the Republic on April 14, 1931. At that time, the Municipal Statute of March 8, 1924, enacted during Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, permitted women to vote; however, since there was no electoral register including women, this right could not be effectively implemented in the municipal elections of April 1931 nor in the constituent elections of June 28, 1931. Subsequently, during the Constituent Cortes of June 1931, only three women were elected as representatives: Margarita Nelken, Clara Campoamor, and Victoria Kent, latter two being political rivals and highly active throughout the Republican period. Two years later, in the 1933 general elections, the number increased to five female representatives. Thus, the Republican Constitution of December 9, 1931, for the first time explicitly recognized women’s full suffrage at the national level in Article 36, establishing the age of majority at twenty-three years for both men and women to exercise this right. In the second general elections of 1933, universal female suffrage was applied for the first time, resulting in a victory for the conservative right.