CHAPTER 5 IMPLEMENTING WOMEN~S RIGHTS IN SPAIN CELlACELIA VALIENTE pain is a culturally homogeneous Catholic country. After the expul- sion of Jews in 1492 and of Muslims in 1502, no signiucantsignificant religious Scommunity other than the Catholic community has been openly ac- tive in Spain in the last four centuries. During the right-wing authoritar- ian regime headed by General Franco (who governed the country between the second half of the 1930s and 1975), Catholicism was the of- ficialucial religion of the country and some Catholic doctrines were reflected in statesta te laws. For instance, divorce was prohibited and abordonabortion was crim- inalized. Spain is the birthplace of the conservative Opus Dei organiza- don,tion, which was founded in 1928 and has bebeen en invigorated by Papal favor in the last decades. In this chapter, largueI argue that despite the strong influence of the Catholic Church in politics in the past, Spain belongs now to the group of western countries with secularized polities. In Spain, church and state are separate. The Catholic Church runs an important part of the educa- tion system but does not control the agenda of government. Gender equality policies are in line with the policies of other European Union member states (with the possible exception of abortion). I proceed in two steps. First, 1I provide a general and historical back- ground of Catholicism in Spain and of Franeo'sFranco's regime. Seeond,Second, 1I develop the aforementioned argument with the study of four dimensions of the polieypolicy arearea a of gender equality: violeneeviolence against women, abortion, gender equality in employment, and ehildcare.childcare. 108 CELlACELIA VALlENTEVALIENTE CATHOLlCISMCATHOLICISM IN SPAIN AND THE FRANCOIST REGIME The overwhelming majority of Spaniards consider themselves Catholic (85 percent in March 2000). Although the number of practicing CathoticsCatholics is much lower than the number of self-declared Catholics, it is significant. In March 2000, 21 percent of those self-declared Catholics af- firmed that they attend religious services (excluding social events such as weddings, first communions, or funerals) almost every Sunday or religious festivity, and around 3 percent attend on various days per week (Centro de Investigaciones SociológicasSociol6gicas 2000). The Catholic Church has an im- portant presence in the educationeducatíon system. For instance, in the so-called MEC territory (ten regions whose education was administered in the 1990s by the Ministry of Education and Culture [MEC] of the central state), in the academic year 1996-7, 29 percent of children and young- sters enrolled in preschool, primary, and secondary education attended a center administered by the Catholic Church (calculated by Celia Valiente from data in Perez-Dlaz,Pérez-Díaz, Chuliá,Chulia, and Álvarez-MirandaAlvarez-Miranda 1998, 139). To suspect that the teachings of the Catholic Church influence the ideas and behaviors of the population is reasonable. Nevertheless, this is tmetrue only to a certain point. For instance, the Catholic Church mandatesmanda tes that couples marry in the church. The acceptance of Catholic marriage is high in Spain but not overwhelming. In March 1998, the Spanish adult population was asked, "Which is the best living arrangement for stable partners?" Over half of the respondents (54 percent) chose religious mar- riages. The remainder preferred other options such as: "living together without getting married" (11 percent); "living together and marrying in the church afterwards" (9 percent); "a civil marriage" (9 percent); and "living together and having a civil marriage afterwards" (8 percent) (Cen- tro de Investigaciones SociológicasSociol6gicas 1998). Examples of disconnection between official Catholic doctrines and so- cietal views abound. The Catholic Church advocates that married women have as many children as "God sends them," but recently Spain has had one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. In 1998, the syn- thetic index of fertility in Spain was 1.15 children per woman (Bovagnet 1999, 5; provisional data). In March 1998, the Spanish adult population was asked: "What is the ideal number of children for a family of a similar socioeconomic level as yours?" Only 2 percent chose the answer in line with the official church position: '~s many as they come." More than half of the interviewed (58 percent) chose two children, and a quarter (26 per- cent) chose three children (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas,Socio16gicas, 1998). The Catholic Church affirms that people must be married in IMPLEMENTlNGIMPLEMENTING WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN SPAIN 109 church before they have children. In December 1995, however, more than two-thirds of the Spanish adult population (71 percent) agreed with the statement, "A woman can have children without being married" (Centro de Investigaciones SociológicasSociol6gicas 1995). The Catholic Church un- equivocaHyequivocally opposes divorce. By contrast, in December 1995, three-quar- ters of the Spanish adult population agreed with the proposition, "When a couple cannot solve its problems, divorce is the solution" (Centro de In- vestigaciones SociológicasSociol6gicas 1995). The Catholic Church prohibits homo- sexual sex.sexo By contrast, in December 1995, two-thirds (65 percent) of the Spanish adult population agreed with the statement, "Homosexuality is a personal option as respectable as heterosexuality" (Centro de Investiga- ciones SociológicasSociol6gicas 1995). The Catholic Church defines abortion as mur- der in allaH circumstances, but in December 1995, slightly over half of the Spanish adult population (56 percent) agreed with the view that, "the de- cision to have an abortion corresponds only to the woman" (Centro de In- vestigaciones SociológicasSociol6gicas #2203). As JoséJose Casanova (1993, 118) rightly points out: "not only can the church no longer control the public moral- ity of the Spaniards, it can no longer take for granted the control of the private morality of the Catholic faithful." As for the political arena, the church has no direct representation in the political space, becabecause use no Christian Democratic Party or trade union exists (Casanova 1993). The separation of church and the Spanish state is reflected in the constitution. According to ArtideArticle 16, Spain is a non- denominational state based on religious freedom. Nevertheless, this very same ArtideArticle also states that "public authorities will take in mind the re- ligious beliefs of the Spanish society" (that is, Catholicism). ArtideArticle 16 also refers to the desirability of the cooperation between the state and the Catholic Church and the remaining denominations. The Catholic Church accepted the principIeprinciple of non-confessionality of the Spanish state and the constitutional regulation of state-church relations (Casanova 1993,117; Linz 1993,35). The church does not agree with sornesome laws reg- ulating moral matters, such as the laws that legalized divorce (1981) or that liberalized abortion (1985), but it has not made a big effort to reverse them. Resistance by Catholics to these public policies has been more moderate in Spain than in other western countries. The Catholic Church is not involved in the main political controversies of the country (with the possible exception of the nationalist question in the Basque country) but is not silent regarding the matters that the church considers important (education and moral issues such as abortion and sexuality, among oth- ers). The church does not explicitly support a political party and does not ask Catholics to vote for any given party. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church sometimes transmits a sense of preference when speaking about 110 CELIACELlA VALIENTEV ALlENTE its position regarding certain issues. At times, this coincides with the po- sition of specifiespecific parties (Linz 1993, 32-48). The separation of church and state is a characteristic of the democ- ratieratic regime established after the end of the dietatorshipdictatorship in 1975, but not of the right-wing authoritarian regime headed by Franco. 1 During the first Francoism (between the second part of the 1930s until the late 1950s-early 1960s), the church and the political regime supported each other. Catholicism was the official religion of the country. Freedom of worship was abolished. The state gave the church the prerogative of managing alla11 matters regarding marriage and the separation of married couples. Catholic marriage was mandatory, with very few exceptions (Pérez-Díaz(Perez-Dfaz 1987). The state alloweda110wed the Catholic Church to control part of the education system: that is an important number of primary and secondary schools-but not most universities, which had been under state control at least since the mid-nineteenth century (McNair 1984, 18-19). In alla11 primary and secondary schools, the state made religious teaching and religious practicespractiees mandatory and education had to con- form to the teachings of the CatholicCatholie Church. The church was given the right to inspect private and public centers (McNair 1984, 28-29). Sex segregated schools were the norm, and boys and girls not only attended different schools but also had different curricula. Divorce was abolished, and the sellingse11ing and advertising of contraceptives was criminalized. Abor- tion was defined as a crime punished with prison. The state economically supported the Catholic Church, whiehwhich was exempted from taxation. In turn, the church