Continuidad y transformación de la educación femenina en la España rural durante el Franquismo: el papel de la familia y la escuela.

The study of the history of education from a gender perspective in rural environments is a new line of research. The aim of this study is to analyse the role of the family context and educational policies in the continuity and transformation of female education in rural areas during Franco's Spain. Information was collected through 29 interviews with women between the ages of 45 and 95. The results obtained reveal that both elements played a fundamental role: in the first stage of Franco's dictatorship (1939-1959), female education was conditioned by (i) the lack of family awareness which resulted in high rates of female absenteeism, (ii) the patriarchal system and educational policies linked to National-Catholicism which promoted a new model of femineity linked to the home. It was from the 1960s onwards that the first generation of rural female students was born. They finished primary school and went on to Secondary Education thanks to school homes, challenge baccalaureate exams, technical colleges for women, and, above all, the influence of their families, especially their mothers, who encouraged them to study and to leave behind old female role models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]