Originally posted: https://thehistorianjournal.wordpress.com/2019/01/18/las-chicas-del-cable-exploring-the-ideas-of-gender-and-sexuality-through-spains-first-netflix-series/
Having just finished its third series, Spain’s first Netflix Original drama appears to have been a triumph for feminist television. Based in 1920’s Spain, the series is centred on sisterhood and women challenging the patriarchal system that placed them below men in society. To put the series into context, the show takes place in Madrid before the Spanish Civil War and universal suffrage, which was granted briefly in 1931.[1] The main characters find each other through a job in a telephone company, one of the few positions that was available to women in the 20’s. While the main focus is women in the workplace, the related advancements that are achieved are not over-emphasised, and the show makes it clear that despite belonging to the workforce, this has in no way placed them on equal footing with the men who surround them. The series highlights their hardships, such as domestic violence, the problems of exploring sexuality in a conservative environment and women’s emancipation through working. Throughout, the series appears to give autonomy and independence to these women, only for them to have it taken away, representing the volatility of being a modern woman in 1920’s Europe. Although it seems that there are opportunities that women did not have before, this does not mean that they came without a price. Historiographically speaking, there has been very little interest by Spanish academics in women and their relationship with economics.[2] However, this is something that the show focuses on heavily, in addition to the agency that is given to these women through their job in the national telephone company. The ideas that are conveyed through this series need to be observed in the historical context of this period, to value the extent to which this drama can actively contribute to the study and the exploration of women’s place in Spanish society in the 1920’s.
The core to the series and the overall catalyst is the workplace, with this space giving women a position and a voice to speak for themselves. Mary Nash, one of the most prominent historians in the field of study associated with women in 20th century Spain, notes that women made up only 12% of the working sector between 1920 and 1940.[3] Furthermore, that it gives them the ability to work and earn a living, with chances to become independent from men.[4] Having jobs like these enabled a change to the dynamic of women’s status, making capital cities around Europe synonymous with a degree of mobilisation and autonomy (Susana Narotzky discusses the notions of women and their links with migratory experiences in this period of time, leading to independence).[5]
Linking into this are the notions of collective action that are associated with working in a company in a big city at this time. Industrial action for women was a relatively new phenomenon, given to them by their new work status.[6] The notions of the key roles that women play in collective action and voicing their dissent is something that is explored throughout the show. This echoes the works of rights activists such as Clara Campoamor. Campoamor, who was active in the intellectual movements in Madrid during the 1920’s and a key figure in the Spanish Suffragette Movement, has many characteristics that are echoed within the show’s personalities.[7] The political activism and collective action that is mirrored within the show highlights this modern cosmopolitan collectivism to protest against injustices, with the capability of finding these networks in big European cities. These modern capitals were able to foster these new progressive ideas and bring together people with shared causes. Thomas Gleik underlines, when looking at the history of gender and sexuality in Madrid during the 1920’s and 30’s, that the cosmopolitan environment cultivated all of the groups of liberal thinkers together.[8] Protest by these women is something that recurs through the series, with them facing harsh punishments for challenging the status quo. However, this is something that the series presents in a way that glorifies the woman’s position at the expense of the authorities. In most situations, as Mary Nash underlines when discussing women on the left in Spain, ‘despite a commitment to socialism and feminism, the force of patriarchal social control and the pressure of the symbolical violence of gender codes threatened female transgression’, underlining that women often had to tone down their opinions in order to survive within traditional gender codes.[9] This is something that is displayed with the serious consequences that are in order for defying the norms, such as police brutality and imprisonment.
Furthermore, a prevalent issue in the series is the violence against women in all aspects of their lives. Women were still considered to be property of their husbands, with very little autonomy. After the implementation of the Civil Code of 1889, women had to ask for permission from their husbands for any kind of economic independence.[10] This law also reduced their rights to their children.[11] As a result of these legal restrictions, women had very little authority, both in their private and public lives, and violence against them was rife. One of the main female characters, excellent at her job, must battle with the ideal that she should be a housewife and give up a promotion to fulfil these expectations. Nash notes that the rejection of these ideals, the striving for personal goals, and defying the patriarchal construct were often met with violence, which is present in the scenes that portray her struggle. [12]
The series also explores sexuality that doesn’t conform to the heteronormative narrative. Queerness and bisexuality are explored, allowing for the acknowledgement of LGBT history during the 1920’s in Spain. The plot line focuses on the constraints of a character, who does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. The medical staff in the series imply a sexual deviance from the heteronormative and therefore conclude it to be a mental illness which must be cured. The importance of transgender history is often overlooked and understudied, and this makes it hard to really quantify the struggles that were present at this time.[13] What the show does highlight however, is the idea of conversion and shock therapy, a common practice to ‘cure’ sexually related medical referrals, which were considered to be a disease. Gender identity in Spain at this time was within the constraints of the Catholic Church.[14] However, progressive movements were beginning to pick up LGBT issues in their cosmopolitan resistance movements against conservatism and strict religious views. These reform movements began to change and reform the way that sexuality was understood in modern Spain. The World League for Sexual Reform established the Spanish chapter in 1932, but it did not include homosexuality in its agenda, being one of the more conservative chapters within the movement. [15] Sigmund Freud’s theories and works also began to be circulated in Spanish, and this linked strongly with the Sexual Reform Movement which began to challenge the status quo and the established ideas.[16] Placing this in with the broader timeframe of LGBT rights in Spain, this is just before homosexuality was criminalised, something that was not repealed until 1979, in the reforms undertaken in the Post-Franco era.[17]
To summarise, the show draws on many of the important themes and problems that progressively thinking women faced at this time. Although this appears to be a period where women are gaining more rights and autonomy, the show regularly underlines that this was not black and white for the women living at this time. It is frequently implied that though there were more opportunities available, this does not automatically destroy the patriarchal structures that they lived under, and this is something that resonates with the audience today. The period covered in the show is shortly before the time that women were granted universal suffrage, but the number of struggles that they still had to go through to arrive to this point is frequently highlighted. In terms of the historical side of the drama, it is clear that things are emphasised for dramatic effect, but the general principal stays grounded in historical fact. There was a shift and a movement in big European cities to offer new opportunities for women, being regarded as places of liberation and personal freedom at the time.
It seems that this is the underlying message that is given through the series and what gives it the ammunition to suggest that it is a truly ‘feminist’ TV show; the paradox between what is presented as being liberation, when in reality it is opening one door but still having a hundred more to go. This is what makes it so relatable to feminist arguments in western European societies today; the fact that there are still relatable rhetoric and arguments throughout, ironically underlines the realisation that although a lot has changed, not much has really changed.
Image source: netflix.com
Bibliography
Cierco, E., ‘Clara Camapoamor, La Suffragista española’, El Ciervo, 31:371 (1982), 28-29.
De Alaquàs, A., ‘Homosexuality in Europe’, <https://europa.eu/youth/es/article/39/43459_en> [last accessed 12 November, 2018].
Gálvez Muñoz, L. and Fernández Perez, P., ‘Female entrepreneurship in Spain during the nineteenth century, The Business History Review, 81:3 (2007) 495-515.
Glick, T.F.,‘Sexual reform, psychoanalysis, and the politics of divorce in Spain in the 1920s and 1930s’, Journal of the History Sexuality, 12:1 (2003), 68-97.
Lannon, F, Seguí Cosme, M. J., and Seguí Cosme, S., ‘Los cuerpos de las mujeres y el cuerpo político católico: autoridades e identidades en conflicto en España durante las décadas de 1920 y 1930’, Historia Social, 35 (1999), 65-80.
Narotzky, S., ‘Gender, history, and political activism in Spain’, in Class, contention and a world in motion, ed. by W. Lem, and P. Gardiner Barber (2010), pp. 125- 137.
Nash, M. and Ferrandis Garrayo, M., ‘Dos décadas de historia de las mujeres en España: una reconsideración in Historia Social, 9:3 (1991), 137-161.
Nash, M., ‘Ideals of redemption: socialism and women’, in Women and socialism – socialism and women; Europe between the world wars, ed. by H. Gruber and P Graves (New York, NY. Berhahn Books, 1998).
Platero, R., ‘The narratives of transgender rights and mobilisation in Spain’, Sexualities, 14:5 (2011), 597-614.
Rodrigo, M. Y., ‘L’histoire des femmes en Espagne : entre l’histoire sociale et le rapport au politique’, Internationale Schilbuchforschung, 27:2 (2005), 177-186.
Spivak, E., ‘The history of the flapper, part 1: a call for freedom’, <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-the-flapper-part-1-a-call-for-freedom-11957978/> [last accessed, 12 November, 2018].
Footnotes:
[1] M. Y. Rodrigo, ‘L’histoire des femmes en Espagne: entre l’histoire sociale et le rapport au politique’, Internationale Schilbuchforschung, 27 :2 (2005), 177-186 (p. 180).
[2] L. Gálvez Muñoz and P. Fernández Perez, ‘Female entrepreneurship in Spain during the nineteenth century, The business history review, 81:3 (2007), 495-515 (pp. 495-515).
[3] M. Nash, and M. Ferrandis Garrayo, ‘Dos décadas de historia de las mujeres en España: una reconsideración, Historia Social, 9: 3 (1991), 137-161 (pp. 137-161).
[4] M. Nash, ‘Ideals of redemption: socialism and women’, in Women and socialism – socialism and women; Europe between the world wars, ed. by H. Gruber and P. Graves (New York, NY.: Berhahn Books, 1998), 348-380 (p. 361).
[5] S. Narotzky, ‘Gender, history, and political activism in Spain’, in Class, contention and a world in motion, ed. by W. Lem and P. Gardiner Barber, (Brooklyn, NY.: Berghahn Books, 2010), 125-137, (p. 125).
[6] Ibid, pp. 125-130.
[7] E. Cierco, ‘Clara Camapoamor, la suffragista española’, in El Ciervo, 31:371 (1982), 28-29 (pp. 28-29).
[8] M. Nash, ‘Ideals of redemption’, p. 360.
[9] Ibid, p. 353.
[10] T. F. Glick, ‘Sexual reform, psychoanalysis, and the politics of divorce in Spain in the 1920s and 1930s’, Journal of the History Sexuality, 12:1 (2003), 68-97 (pp. 68-97).
[11] Ibid.
[12] M. Nash, and M. Ferrandis Garrayo, ‘Dos décadas’, p. 151.
[13] R. Platero, ‘The narratives of transgender rights and mobilisation in Spain’, Sexualities, 14:5 (2011), 597-614 (pp. 597-614).
[14] F. Lannon, M. J. Seguí Cosme and S. Seguí Cosme, ‘Los cuerpos de las mujeres y el cuerpo político católico: autoridades e identidades en conflicto en España durante las décadas de 1920 y 1930’, Historia Social, 35 (1999), 65-80 (pp. 65-80).
[15] F. Glick, ‘Sexual reform’, pp. 68-97.
[16] F. Lannon, M. J. Seguí Cosme and S. Seguí Cosme, ‘Los cuerpos de las mujeres’, pp. 65-80.
[17] de Alaquàs, ‘Homosexuality in Europe’, <https://europa.eu/youth/es/article/39/43459_en> [last accessed, 12 November, 2018].
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