The repression of academic freedom in women's education during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera

Abstract

Despite the abundant literature on the threats to academic freedom that had occurred throughout the history of Spanish education, a lack of studies that include a gender perspective can be noticed. Thus, female educators who, in the exercise of their right to academic freedom, have challenged the limitations imposed by patriarchal doctrines through their educational practices and therefore been sanctioned, have been rendered invisible and silenced.

The cases of the teacher trainers Josefa Úriz and Carmen García de Castro, removed from their professorships on the grounds of teaching doctrines deemed disruptive and dangerous for their students, are a manifestation of the tensions present in early 20th century society between secularisation and clericalism, and between the right or the constraints on the content of women's education on gender-related criteria. Through the analysis of primary sources and press articles, we will explore the reasons invoked to prosecute them during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and its preceding years, and will also delve into the episodes of sorority developed by their colleagues in the face of the proposed sanctions.