Abstract
Since the beginning of the twentieth century in the Spanish Basque Country, Basque nationalism has served as a unifying movement that encouraged women to participate in women’s associations. Women’s associations offered a metaspace in which public and private spheres overlap, where, women began to reconstruct meanings of nationalism and gender relations in distinct ways. As a result, the particular foci of these associations reflected each individual association’s specific understanding of gender relations and their relations to different interpretations of Basque nationalism. This historical tradition has continued into the twenty-first century as women’s associations that are structured by distinct systems of gender relations provide a number of social services and educational services to promote gender equality. Through the examination of the metaspace of the women’s association Lanbroa, this article explores the ways in which the women’s movement and feminism have influenced the functioning of this association and the ways in which association members contest traditional Basque gender relations.
Widely accepted as one of the most enigmatic people in Europe, the Basques remain one of the most steadfastly traditional groups within the European Community. They are known for their fierce sense of ethnic identity which has fuelled their desire for independence from the Spanish state and their ancient language bearing no similarities to other Indo-European languages. Their society remained rurally based until the twentieth century, and even yet, this region is atypical compared to other regions in Spain in that the population remains more rural than in larger townships (Hooper, 1995: 392). Residing in farmhouses known as basseri, social life centred on the preservation of the family residence which was a self-sustaining economy composed of a three-generational family living together. 1 The etxekoandere, or woman of the house, was viewed as the cohesive element that kept the basseri running not only on a daily basis but throughout the ages (del Valle et al., 1985). The woman was the mediator between the past and present (Bullen, 2003). This stereotype of the Basque woman, situated within the sacred space of the farmhouse, was a powerful symbol that projected an idealized image of the woman as a mediator and transmitter of Basque culture. It is because of this historical symbolic representation of the Basque rural woman as a protector of the basseri, and in essence of Basque culture, that Basques claim that the status of Basque women has been relatively high compared to women in other regions controlled by the Castilian empire.
However, recently feminists have begun to question this historical perception of women’s social status within the Basque Country and the ways in which Basque nationalism has incorporated this image of the Basque woman. While Basque nationalism in both its conservative and radical expressions draws upon the cultural stereotype of the Basque woman as a matriarch, associating the notion of the mother with that of the homeland, feminists argue that this historical image has served to naturalize sexual differences between men and women and limits women’s role in other aspects of society which are typically controlled by men (del Valle, 2000).
History plays a significant role in creating a strong sense of collective identity which has developed over the past two centuries and has led to the creation of one of the most controversial political movements, Basque nationalism. Basque nationalism is believed to have emerged due to a complex series of social changes occurring in the latter half of the nineteenth century which led to a pervasive fear that a collective Basque identity would be lost as an increasingly large number of non-Basque immigrants came to work in the large industrial centres of the Spanish Basque Country. Beginning in the early twentieth century, angered by what they perceived as exploitation of their natural resources and their industry by Spanish federalism, Basque congregated into small locally constructed associations. In these small associations, they began to question the authority of the Spanish state and in turn rejected Spanish nationalism.
During the 1920s, these associations grew and became formalized, with women being able to create their own associations. These associations were especially significant for women as they provided them the opportunity to congregate under the goal of furthering Basque nationalism (Emakunde, 1991). The historical ideal of the matriarch, shaped the development of their earliest associations as well as maintaining traditional representations regarding gender and women’s role in society.
However, while some women’s associations maintained traditional interpretations of gender, others sought to redefine cultural notions regarding gender identity. As more and more women began to question their position in society, even women in these small traditionally minded associations questioned their position in a society, which confined them to the domestic sphere.
In this metaspace (Tetreault, 2005), in which public and private spheres overlapped, gendered definitions of status and rights became more flexible. 2 Historically, Basque society developed a highly articulated ideology around the notion of public and private spheres with biological differences between men and women serving as the model for gender-based divisions of labour as well as categorizing citizens according to gender-specific roles. Local cultural identity continued to play a significant role in influencing the construction of gender relations within and outside these two domains; however, in this metaspace women began to reconsider previously upheld cultural beliefs regarding appropriate social roles for women. These spaces were public because women entered under their own agency; however, they were also conceptualized as private because they were free of male control. Although, the initial focus was on feminine types of social action, women’s associations later expanded their social action to include activities which were typically performed only by men, such as the production of nationalistic discourse and participation in local politics (Emakunde, 1991). Women also began to look towards women’s movements in other contexts as they formulated plans of action to address gender inequalities.
Women’s associations reached a golden age in the 1930s during the Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War. These diverse groups of women’s associations were integral in the mobilization of women as a collective unit. Women’s associations were involved in running hospitals, organizing soup kitchens and caring for orphaned children. Their activities, which were contained within the domain of women’s associations, were initiated to further Basque nationalism and fight against Fascism, which was seen as a threat to the cultural integrity of Basques. However, after the fall of the Republic to the Nationalists, women’s associations went into decline. Women’s role as mothers was once again glorified as women were expected to return to the domain of the home.
After the death of Franco in 1975, regional nationalism has once again been allowed to proliferate (Flynn, 2001). A new constitution was constructed in order to modernize the country which allowed individual regions to create their own semi-autonomous government. In the Basque Country, the desire for self-rule as an autonomous region brought about a number of important legislative and social changes which were receptive to addressing gender-based discrimination and in turn altering gender relations. The Basque government has prioritized gender equality and as a result has devoted financial resources to support women’s associations and to conduct research to better the lives of women residing within the Basque region. These associations provide women with the space to create their own plans of action, which is a historical tradition that began at the beginning of the twentieth century.
In this article, I explore the complex relationship that exists between gender and nationalism. The Spanish Basque Country is an ideal environment to explore the relationship between gender and nationalism because of the ways in which Basque nationalism as a social movement has embraced a particular image of the Basque woman. The acceptance, modification, or rejection of this symbol has played an important role in structuring the activities of women participating in this movement. Through an examination of the women’s association Lanbroa, I highlight the ways in which that nationalism has been influenced by feminism and the women’s movement.
Gender and nationalism
Historically, much of the literature on nationalism has tended to masculinize nationalism and thus has provided few opportunities to examine nationalism as a gendered construction. In Western Europe, nationalism was often utilized as a tool of modernization by consolidating nation-states through the repression of ethnic and linguistic minorities (Vickers, 2002: 250). In both European and postcolonial contexts, nationalisms have been perceived as inherently bad for women as they deny women agency and reduce their role to that as reproducers. In most European nations, public space and the ideology of masculine citizenship excluded women except as faithful wives and daughters of male citizens. Further, while the history of nationalism has attempted to absorb new categories of analysis such as nation-building, collective identity and ethnicity, it has tended to ignore the issue of gender (Bullen, 2003). Historians suggest that by not examining gender, the essentialist and anti-democratic nature of certain expressions of nationalism is reinforced.
For example, in Benedict Anderson’s classic work on modern nationalism (1991 [1983]) he focused on the symbolic nature of nationalism which was reproduced through the proliferation of an imagined community. By an imagined community Anderson means a potent and effective sense of commonality, where membership is a categorical social body which exists despite the absence of direct or even indirect social intercourse. This imagined community is developed and maintained through the common participation in activities whereby people identify with others who are performing similar activities. This abstract notion of community is developed and maintained through the use of common cultural objects which have a symbolic meaning.
However, Anderson fails to examine nationalism as a gendered process (Marakowitz, 1993). Anderson considers nationalism to pivot upon male fraternities and male–male bonding while women are often excluded from a significant role in the production of national identity. Gender is a cultural construction which is often conceived of as natural and thus it is utilized to naturalize multiple political relations. However, we now know that gender and nationalism are not fixed, given, immutable, or binary variables. Further gendered and nationalistic identities are sites of the self which are often constructed in relation to each other. They are currently as well as in the past created and re-created through daily interactions between the genders. By analysing how these identities are created and produced, we can begin to understand how they are being re-created and reproduced as gendered phenomena between men and women.
Feminist scholarship has begun to question this tendency to reject nationalism and in turn has examined nationalism as a social process which is malleable to shifts in gender relations. Case studies of women’s movements in Europe, Asia and the Americas conclude that various types of nationalism movement activists on both grassroots and elite levels have fought for what they define as the rights of women within their cultural contexts (Vickers, 2002: 258). In North America, most francophone feminists have constructed their identities within the framework of Quebec nationalism (Lamoureux, 1987). In their analysis of the parallels between the oppression of women and that of Quebec, they were influenced by the anti-colonial theories which ignited national liberation in the Third World.
For example in the case of the Spanish Basque Country, regional nationalism has historically been an important element in identity formation and the expansion of women’s social roles. A gendered historical review of the early twentieth century reveals that Basque nationalism served as a unifying movement for women to participate in public works. However, women’s activities were confined to certain ‘feminine’ programmes. Basque nationalism as a political ideology has fabricated a unilateral concept of the Basque woman, based upon attributes of the rural woman that highlights the mother’s role in teaching and passing on the Basque language and culture (Bullen, 2003: 201).
The work of Sabino Arana, who is considered the father of Basque nationalism, was of fundamental importance in the development of this ideology that limited women’s role to reproduction. Arana is credited for the development of the modern Basque identity which was predicated upon membership to an ethnic group. According to Arana, Euzkadi es la patria de las vascos (the Basque Country is the fatherland for the Basque). However, Arana considered the Basque race to be the most essential feature in Basque identity. Therefore, maternity should be exalted as of the utmost importance for Basque nationalism. Language, customs, territory and self-government were second in importance due to the enormous importance of maternity. Mothers were irreplaceable elements in the construction of the nation for their power to maintain the ‘uncontaminated race’ (Solano, 1992: 123).
The Catholic faith was also of fundamental importance in the construction of Basque nationalism as the sanctity of maternity was a traditional construct of the church. In Catholicism, women through their maternity ascend to a sacred plane in limited contact with divinity. Only men can be divine, but women through maternity were the sacred recipients that contained divinity. This symbol utilized by the nationalists suggests that Basques cannot achieve national identity or establish contact with divinity without the mother. Arana so strongly believed in this ideology which glorified the Basque mother and maintained ‘pure blood lines’ that he married an uneducated peasant because she was a true Basque, meaning both of her family names were Basque (Kurlansky, 1999: 171). Basque culture is traditionally rural and the nationalists have embraced the image of the Basque farm wife as a symbol of Basqueness.
Basque nationalism offered a means to combat this cultural crisis and a ‘new’ Basque cultural identity which sought to preserve essential cultural traditions developed. The identity of women and men belonging to this community was part of the national identity. Gender relations were configured through the maintenance of essentialized differences which existed between men and women in traditional society. In this perspective, the social function of men was to attend to public matters and direct society, including the direction of the family, and women had the exclusive function to maintain the family, centred in maternity and her complementary role (Solano, 1992: 122). To fulfil their function in society, men should develop activities in the public world: in the world of politics and military action. While women should carry out their domestic functions in the private sphere contained within the world of the family and personal relations, utilizing sentiments and affects.
Due to the function that women were assigned in society as a result of their biological sex, their role within the Basque national community was of monumental importance. Through maternity and family action, there were the guardians of perseverance and purity of the ‘race’; for example, there were expected to maintain the language and traditional customs (Solano, 1992: 123). The importance that maternity had in the construction of the national community is reflective in the symbolic aspect of nationalism, in that maternity is identified with the fatherland. However, as a result of the way in which women were constructed within Basque nationalist ideology, female Basque nationalists encountered difficulties taking a public role and openly participating in social activism (Solano, 1992: 124).
History of Spanish women’s associations
Through the formation of women’s associations, women are reconstructing meanings of nationalism and gender relations. One of the ways in which women have been able to reconstruct notions of nationalism and gender relations has been by redefining the private and public realms as not mutually exclusive and binary but as complementary and unitary (West, 1997: xxxi). Historically, the opposition between domestic and public domains has constrained the life chances of women in modern Europe. This dichotomy was often utilized to explain the secondary status of women in society as one of the true universals despite the fact that specific cultural conceptions and symbolizations of women are extraordinarily diverse.
The relation between national identity and gendered identities opens up a significant problematic in the understanding of national politics and the construction of citizenship as there are significant variations in regard to values and beliefs about gender relations within nationalistic movements (Nash, 1999: 28–29). As a result of women’s participation within nationalist causes, women’s movements and the creation of women’s associations in contemporary society are expressed in a particular manner. For example, in Ireland in the early twentieth century, women’s associations were created in reaction to British imperialism as Irish women sought to preserve the Irish language and produce the future generation of patriots. While traditional gender relations were initially maintained in the construction of these associations, women began to reconsider traditional Catholic beliefs which formed the basis for gender relations within the home. Irish nationalistic women’s associations also served as a source of support for some of the earliest women’s associations which were created in the Spanish Basque Country.
During the Spanish Civil War, women’s associations were united in their fight against Fascism. In Catalonia, Catalan women’s associations, which often functioned under the guise of charity, were formed to promote women’s maternal function as transmitters of Catalan culture (Nash, 1996). Women played a key role in the construction of Catalan nationalism through their gender role in the family and the future development of Catalonia. Thus, the earliest stages of the Catalan women’s movement were constructed within the collective goals and expectations of the Catalan nationalist movement. Women’s rethinking of gender relations was expressed in relation to the Spanish state and Catalan society, and thus was not politically motivated in terms of political rights for women.
In the Basque Country, these ideals shaped the development of the earliest women’s associations as well as maintaining traditional representations regarding gender and women’s role in society. Collectively, women’s associations focused on socially important issues such as education, child rearing and maternal–child health care. The mobilization of women within the canons of conservative national discourse and the sociopolitical protection of women activists constituted an important element in the development of nationalism within the Basque Country and provided a good environment for the construction of a gendered national identity (Nash, 1999: 76). While suffragism was an important vehicle for advancing a woman’s social role in the United States and Great Britain as well as in constructing the various branches of the women’s movement, this issue was not as important in the Spanish Basque Country. Rather, women began to reconsider their role as Basque women in constructing the Basque nation.
Women moved into the public sphere into positions which were previously inaccessible as men were away at the war front. Cultural representations of women shifted from traditional images of women as caretakers and mothers to patriot mothers and soldiers in the fight against Fascism. It was through this expansion of the traditional folk image of Basque women that more radical associations were able to challenge more traditional definitions of femininity. However, at the same time, more conservative associations sought to maintain more traditional definitions of women.
After the fall of the Republic to the Nationalists, 3 the Basque Country as well as all of Spain experienced nearly 40 years of repressive governmental policies which attempted to stamp out any form of regional nationalism. Along with this, women experienced significant setbacks in regard to their participation in political action. Franco reinstated paternalistic laws which limited women’s participation in society. Women’s role as mothers was once again glorified and women were expected to return to the domain of the home. One of the only avenues in which women were allowed to participate was the clandestine groups of the 1950s and 1960s such as ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) and anti-Franco trade unions.
After the death of Franco in 1975, Spain experienced a rapid growth in its economy. As a result, a number of social changes occurred that created an environment receptive to changes in gender relations. The standard of living improved dramatically as individuals began to experience a lifestyle more comparable to other Western European countries. While the women’s movement had been slow to develop in Spain and the Basque Country in particular, with the improvement in the standard of living, women had greater freedom to explore identities outside their roles as mothers and wives. However, despite these economic and social changes in the 1980s, unemployment remained significantly higher for women than men throughout all of Spain. Further, the government did not have an institutional structure to address many of the social issues that women experience because of their gender. As a result of this cultural construct, the majority of the work for promoting gender equality in the Spanish Basque Country has occurred through legislation and governmentally supported women’s associations rather than an independent women’s movement striving to reconcile these internal conflicts that exist within the construction of a gendered Basque identity.
In addition to promoting regional autonomy, another way in which the government sought to modernize the country was through promoting gender equality within society (Montero, 1995). The Basque Women’s Institute (Emakunde) was founded by public law in order to promote policy initiatives for women and support research to study all aspects of women’s situation in Spain. While Emakunde maintains a non-partisan position in regard to Basque politics, individual associations vary significantly in their relationship to Basque politics and to Basque nationalism as a social movement. Since Emakunde’s creation there have been changes in political leadership with certain parties taking a more active approach in promoting gender equality. Regardless of regional politics, Emakunde has always maintained funds for individual groups of women to create their own programmes.
Due to the tremendous diversity of values and beliefs regarding gender relations which are reflective of the intergenerational differences among women and individual interpretations of Basque nationalism, there are significant variations between women’s associations in regard to the type of environment they have created. There are some women’s associations that have been receptive to modifications in their traditional system of gender relations and to western feminism. Feminism provided women with a forum to challenge this idealized view of the Basque woman by proposing a new image of a politically active Basque woman.
Basque nationalism serves as a unifying force motivating women to participate in collective actions. In the present context, however, we have seen a splintering of ideologies among Basque nationalists, with women’s role in the construction of the nation being one issue, which has decreased the popularity of this movement for the younger generation. Rather, we have seen women unite in collectives to address issues affecting women. Thus, to a large extent, issues of gender inequality and how distinct systems of gender relations are carried out in daily practice has become the unifying force for women.
Regardless of their relationship to feminism, all of these associations share similarities which link them together collectively. First, they are all women-centred associations meaning that only women attend the meetings and the associations are organized by women. Men play a marginal role in the functioning of these associations. Second, all of these associations are financially supported by the Basque government and thus maintain certain governmental mandates. Third, they all provide a space which is not quite public or private. This overlapping environment of both the domestic and public spheres provides a new type of metaspace in which issues of gender relations and cultural identity can be explored.
Currently there are about 250 women’s associations in the three provinces of the Basque region, and although they only constitute a small percentage of women, they provide a variety of social services and education (Emakunde, 2001). Within the confines of these associations, women have been able to adjust their programme foci to respond to the many ways in which gender inequalities are carried out in day-to-day life. In this process, gender relations and Basque nationalism in its concrete representations are often reconstructed in order to create plans of action to address the forms of gender inequalities which limit women from participation in all aspects of citizenship. However, regardless of the distinct variations which exist between these associations, they are all connected in the sense that they are supported financially by Emakunde and thus maintain the objectives of the Basque government in initiating gender equality within society.
In the metaspace of women’s associations, women have been able to take on public roles which typically have been reserved for male citizens. Further, they provide a place in which women are able to draw upon their own life experiences as gendered citizens in order to create programmes to promote a society based on gender equality.
Lanbroa: Radical Basque feminism at work
Feminist scholarship has focused on reconstructing the supposed boundaries between the private and public spheres. One of the ways in which women have been able to deconstruct the frontier between the domains has been through the creation of metaspaces in which gender relations are open to reinterpretation. By bridging the divide between the public/private domains, women have been able to bring their private issues into the domain of public space. Through this process, they have been able to consolidate their efforts, and the results of their work have then spread beyond the domain of these metaspaces. By examining the historical development and the day-to-day activities of the women’s association Lanbroa, I explore the ways this metaspace has provided a forum for women to both influence the nature of Basque nationalism and articulate their voices regarding the appropriate means for creating gender equality.
The data collection for Lanbroa included participant observation of their feminist school and small groups involved in planning the events for 8 March (International Women’s Day 4 ), which took place over the course of three months beginning in January 2005. Their feminist school was on Monday nights for approximately two to three hours. Before and after the feminist school, there was a time when women would congregate in the teaching area as well as the other areas of the association’s apartment to chat and have a coffee. It was during this time that I was able to conduct unstructured interviews with the association members. I also participated in a small demonstration on the weekend before the 8 March demonstration which was sponsored exclusively by Lanbroa. I participated in the large demonstration which took place on 8 March and included more than 20 women’s associations as well as individual women who participated in the march that numbered over 3500 people. This demonstration included music, a slide show and a formal presentation with personal vignettes of women who had experienced gender-based violence and poetry readings of a feminist nature.
In order to better understand the historical development of this association, I collected focused life histories of three of the association members in March 2005. The life histories for two association members were conducted at Lanbroa’s apartment and the third life history was obtained at the association member’s apartment. The life histories lasted approximately two hours each and were recorded digitally and transcribed.
Lanbroa was born in July 1976 in Bilbao from a sector of the Assembly of Women of Vizcaya. This break occurred as a result of fundamental theoretical differences in how to address the issue of gender inequality in society. Lanbroa adopted a solution based on the idea that women’s associations should have their own space to generate reflection and analysis (Puerta, 2003: 133). In contrast, the Assembly of Women of Vizcaya maintained a Marxist analysis and believed that class struggles and gender struggles were fights that had to be addressed simultaneously. The Assembly of Women of Vizcaya maintained close ties with trade unions, which served as their vehicle for social action in many cases. However, Lanbroa believed that the answer to gender inequalities should not be found through this theoretical perspective in which mixed-gender associations are common, meaning men and women working together voluntarily. While Lanbroa does represent only one theoretical type of women’s association within the Spanish Basque Country, it serves as a particularly good example because of its historical importance in being the first women’s association to separate themselves from the Assembly of Vizcaya, which distinguished them as one of the first independent non-Marxist-affiliated women’s associations.
Lanbroa’s opinion was that in order to advance feminist theory, the association needed to remain separate from Marxist theory. They believed that the origin of female oppression was rooted in the patriarchal system which was dependent upon the separation between the public and private domains. Women must develop power by eliminating the distinctions between the private and public domains. The construction of a metaspace free from male control was an important means for promoting gender equality because this space merged aspects of the public and private domains. Thus, the construction of the space and the political actions created in this space, such as the feminist school, are what defined the association.
Lanbroa divides the trajectory of their development into three eras. In the first era, which occurred between 1976 and 1986, the association began to develop their theoretical position based on independent feminism. This theoretical position was expressed through numerous written documents. In the elaboration of their initial dialogue, they strongly confronted the discourse at that time which defined feminist women as part of left-wing politics. This association began to develop its own philosophy, which was derived from their own personal lives with their husbands, children and friends and was sensitive to latent contradictions they experienced.
During the first era, the development of the association was difficult as some women wished to maintain connections with Marxism. Maria, 5 the current president and co-founder of the association, stated, ‘A group of us met to discuss our intent but we were not a political party’ (personal interview, winter 2005). Maria stated that although her participation with anti-Franco groups put her into contact with radical left-wing political associations that were beginning to question issues regarding women’s participation in society, mixed-gender Marxist-oriented trade unions lacked the proper theoretical perspective to examine issues affecting women (personal interview, winter 2005). It was because of this inability to address women’s issues within the structure of trade unions that Maria left this forum and sought out answers from the women’s movement. ‘We were an association of independent feminists but in 1986 we became Lanbroa. We, this little collective of women, we began to grow, little by little’ (life history, March 2005).
During the second era, which lasted from 1986 until 1995, the association began to develop its physical space. ‘The association found an apartment to rent in the centre of Bilbao. Together as an association, we began to renovate the apartment, we purchased furniture, painted, and cleaned the space. Lanbroa moved from an imagined philosophy to a functioning association’ (personal interview, winter 2005).
After the physical space was constructed, the association began to think about their ideological viewpoint. Through the organization of the activities of the association, they began to define what the association was going to be and what political direction they would take. The association initially identified with militant feminism in that this type of feminism maintained a particular type of feminist action as they were involved with problems that female workers experienced in factories. However, the association turned towards other types of feminism to understand the problems that women experience in life. They began to reflect on the feminist literature and the action of the street. The women’s movement had a different form in the Basque region than in Madrid or other areas in Spain. They sought to distinguish themselves from Marxists as they believed that classism had no place in their ideology and Marxism could not adequately deal with issues of sexism within society. From their point of view, it was not capitalism but rather sexism which was the primary source of oppression in society. Lanbroa speculated that it was Basque patriarchal family structure that was responsible for women’s oppression. ‘By attacking the patriarchal structure of Basque society and changing the traditional system of gender relations, women could achieve equality’ (personal interview, winter 2005).
It was during this time that they developed their theoretical approach that was known as independent feminism. This form of feminism believed in the reaffirmation of the identity of women. In order to obtain gender equality, a new society must be formed whose base is outside the current patriarchal system and is based on feminist ideology. The great debate of this school of thought centred on the need for women to feel that they define their own ‘space’ in which they can formulate their own ideas and actions (Puerta, 2003: 192). Marxist theory was not the answer to the oppression of women. Independent feminists posited that the patriarchal system, which is dependent upon the separation between the public and private domains, was the origin of female oppression. Therefore, women must recover and develop the power of possibility by eliminating the distinctions between the private and public domains. Women need to protect their own associations because they provide a space which merges the public and private domains.
Independent feminism shared some similarities with feminism of equality. First, both of these theoretical perspectives shared the belief that men and women are positioned in society in a manner that is not only different but inferior. Second, inequality was a result of social organization, not the result of biological differences between the sexes. However, independent feminism distinguished itself from equality feminism in that men are allowed to participate in equality activism. In contrast, independent feminists sought to separate themselves from any mixed-gender organizations and institutional structures.
It was also during the second era that the association began to debate at a more profound level. They continued to develop their theory and began to progressively define a common project. This theoretical stance in part was taken from their earliest writings during the first era of Lanbroa. However, the association began to favour the consolidation of the its diverse areas of debate into a political project. In order to develop Lanbroa into a political project, they began to operate an elementary level feminist seminary and a more advanced feminist seminary in addition to various round-table discussions. During this phase they also created practical activities directed at women who wished to participate in them. Some of the practical activities which were created included demonstrations in the Arenal of Bilbao, the publication of a newspaper, neighbourhood-based meetings, a large celebration for 8 March, participation in the network of Autonomous Feminism, a feminist film festival sponsored by the Simone de Beauvoir group and the organization of the first women’s journal focusing on coeducation. It was during this time that they configured the organizational structure through which the various work groups would operate.
Lanbroa developed a consolidated body constructed with a common language and positive relations. This stage is referred to as the political project. A central concept in this theoretical view was affidamiento. 6 This theoretical view was converted from their own lived experiences which they consolidated into a collective form yet remained representative of each person within the association. In the words of Begona, ‘In a symbolic sense, I was able to understand the reality that my mother experienced. My mother had two forms: one was concrete and the other symbolic. Through independent feminism, I was able to recuperate my mother’s role in society’ (life history, March 2005). This process of consolidation was structured from personal relations, writings, hours of debate and mutual learning developed between the members of the association. At the same time, the diverse activities of the association contributed to the theoretical view. These activities included a reflection group on violence and peace, a group to redefine values, the feminist school, the magazine and coordination with other feminist associations.
History has played a part in defining the current functioning of the association. However, Lanbroa continues to reconsider its ideological positions on issues which are affecting women. Since the third era, beginning in 1995, Lanbroa has defined itself as a space for education, debate and feminist action. ‘Feminist theory is linked to feminist action as it moves to specific actions’ (personal interview, 2005). The political action of this association centres around three fields of practice: (1) the feminist school, (2) the 8 March public demonstration and (3) production of their magazine. Lanbroa defines itself through its activities, which remain focused on the generation of their new feminist dialogue. One of the primary means for this production is through their feminist school. ‘My own project, my own space to co-ordinate all other activities within society is within Lanbroa. Feminism provides an interpretation of society. Lanbroa is not only a feminist reflection association but a collective which seeks to coordinate political action. The ideology, the theories that we share are different from other associations. We use feminism to understand the contradictions which exist in life. The courses that we offer point out many of the contradictions which exist in life at every level’ (life history, March 2005).
My introduction to the feminist school occurred in February 2005 with the first class for the new year. The feminist seminary continues to be one of the key means for introducing new women into the project of the association, thus many of the women who attended the class were new to the association. The president and founder of the association had denounced marriage and maternity because in her opinion Basque women’s oppression is linked to their role in the patriarchal home. The class started with the women going around the room to introduce themselves. In the introduction, the women gave their names and stated their interests for attending the school. Many of the women stated that they wanted to improve their knowledge of feminist theory for their own personal improvement, while others stated that they believed that they needed to have a greater knowledge of gender-based issues because of their professional work.
The topic for that night was domestic violence. Gender-based violence was one of the many campaigns that Lanbroa was involved in and to a large extent was a unifying force within the various strands of the Basque women’s movement. The bulletin board along the walls were covered with recent newspaper clippings providing detailed information about women murdered in Spain over the past year. Lanbroa keeps a memorial for each woman who has been murdered by making a note on the bulletin board along with feminist quotes admonishing the court systems for their inability to protect women from violence within their own homes. The association members focused on behaviours of abusive men and how they are able to maintain control over their partners and then handed out a flier with information profiling characteristics of abusive men. The facilitator for the school led the conversation, which looked towards feminist explanations of how men are able to maintain control over their partners. Individual women joined in and gave their own opinions. There was a wide variation in the ages of the women present.
In the second half of the evening, the focus was on individual members’ testimonials regarding the abuse they experienced. Other women in the association supported the women’s testimonials and also looked to feminist explanations of why women stay in abusive relationships. Society often blames women for their own abuse rather than looking at the behaviour of the men that is supported by a Basque patriarchal system. The personal stories of abuse served as real-life examples to illustrate the feminist theory which was presented. Feminist theory was utilized to symbolically explain why women stay in abusive relationships and why society is often unwilling to assist women. Government-sponsored organizations often are unwilling to take a stand against issues like domestic violence. While associations like Emakunde do provide funds for social services and research to improve women’s status, associations like Lanbroa do not believe that Emakunde is willing to take a stand against gender-based violence. Although legislative changes have been made to improve women’s status in the Basque Country, attitudes are much more difficult to change.
Historically, the Basque matriarch, a traditional rural woman, has served as a unifying symbol of Basque society. Basque nationalism as a political ideology has fabricated a unilateral concept of Basque women to represent all Basque women, based on the attributes of the woman as mother with the role of teaching and passing down the language and culture (Bullen, 2003: 200–201). The women’s movement as a political movement in this region of Spain has been significantly influenced by a traditional Basque system of gender relations, which glorifies women’s role as matriarch in the construction of the Basque nation. Thus, the Basque region has not been receptive to liberal feminism. In Spain, feminism tends to be marked by the language of Marxism, communism and socialism more than in other industrialized nations outside Europe. While many members of the Lanbroa association were initially attracted to feminism and the women’s movement through Marxist trade unions, Lanbroa has sought to separate itself from other associations that maintain more traditional notions of gender relations.
The rejection of this symbol has played an important role in structuring the activities of Lanbroa. It is only through the creation of women-only spaces that women can explore alternative identities outside the matriarchal Basque woman. Associations like Lanbroa believe that unreconstructed Basque nationalism impedes women’s access to gender equality because it maintains rigid interpretations of gender relations that are not flexible to reinterpretation. Independent feminism provides an alternative system of gender relations which individual association members utilize to construct their own political projects for gender equality.
Conclusion
In the European context there have been a number of documented cases in which women’s participation in nationalistic movements has provided a forum for social activism. The Basque Country and Catalonia have both served as examples where women’s participation in nationalism provided a forum for women to contest many of the inequities that they experience in daily life. However, women experienced difficulties in taking on more public roles within nationalistic movements. Historically, the Basque matriarch has served as a unifying symbol of Basque society. Basque nationalism as a political ideology has fabricated a unilateral concept of Basque women to represent all Basque women, based on the attributes of the woman as mother with the role of teaching and passing down the language and culture. As a result, women’s social activism was limited to certain ‘feminine’ forms of political action.
Despite these social restrictions, these associations provided women with a space to contest their position that limited them to the confines of the domestic sphere. Local cultural identity continues to play an important role in gender relations within and outside the public and private domains; however, in these self-created metaspaces, women have formulated plans of action to address issues that affect them as gendered citizens.
Due to the significant variation of values and beliefs regarding gender relations that are reflective of the intergenerational differences among women and individual interpretations of Basque nationalism, there are tremendous variations between women’s associations in regard to the environments they have created. The acceptance, modification, or rejection of the Basque matriarch as a cultural symbol has played an important role in structuring the activities of women’s associations.
In the case of Lanbroa, through their work and the creation of their metaspace, women have contested and rejected the symbol of the Basque matriarch as it is not connected with the actual concrete experiences of Basque women. According to Maria, the president of Lanbroa, ‘it is only through the creation of women-only spaces that women can explore alternative identities outside of the matriarchal Basque woman’ (personal interview, winter 2005). Feminism provided the members of Lanbroa with a forum to voice many of the inequities they experienced in life, as their self-defined ‘space’ served to bridge the division between the public and private domains.
The Basque Country continues to strive to obtain a society based on gender equality. While some argue that this desire is based upon a traditional Basque system of gender relations that existed for hundreds of years in this area of the world, others disagree. Through the day-to-day activities of the women’s association Lanbroa, we have learned about the ways in which images of Basque nationalism have been deconstructed by the women who compose this association, and the ways in which different interpretations of gender relations have shaped the direction of their gender equality programme. Lanbroa believes that their power in promoting gender equality lies in their independent position from institutional structures that could constrain their actions. While the association does receive some financial funds from Emakunde, the members of the association primarily support the association’s activities. As a result, the association has greater freedom in constructing their plans of action.
Through the creation of a woman’s space free of male control, each woman has the liberty to create her own feminist approach. For example, the women who form Lanbroa have created an environment conducive for women to explore alternative identities outside the Basque matriarch. Furthermore, women have been able to contest certain aspects of society that contribute to gender inequities, such as gender-based violence. Through the creation of their feminist magazine, they have been able to disseminate their ideas throughout Europe and Latin America. The production of independent feminist discourse has provided women the opportunity to generate their own line of analysis free from governmental control.
The relationship between gender and nationalism is neither conflict free nor simple. Through the creation of women-only spaces, women’s associations have created distinct women’s equality projects. Through this process, certain aspects of Basque nationalism have been modified or completely rejected in order to obtain gender equality. In this work, I have highlighted the work of the women’s association Lanbroa. By rejecting the archetype of the Basque matriarch, women have contributed to new gender relations and interpretations of Basque nationalism. While Lanbroa represents only one type of women’s association, it provides us with a view of a contemporary association that strives to promote an image of a politically active Basque woman. The future of gender equality lies within the domain of women’s associations as these self-created spaces provide the possibility for change.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the members of Lanbroa who allowed me to enter their space in order to conduct this research, and Emakunde, the Basque Women’s Institute, for providing logistical support for this project. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members: Dr Charles Harrington, Dr Linda Lin, Dr Lesley Bartlett, Dr Lambros Comitas and Dr Ellen Marakowitz for assistance in analysing this field data. Finally, I am grateful to Dr Hazel Johnstone and the anonymous reviewers of the European Journal of Women’s Studies for helpful comments on earlier drafts on this article.
Funding
My thanks go to the Fulbright Association of Spain for their financial support in completing this fieldwork, which was conducted from September 2004 to June 2005.