Domesticity Amidst Devastation: Representations of Women's Economic Roles in the Magazines of Early Francoism (1939-1948)

FOLLOWING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, HALF A MILLION HOMES WERE LEFT WITHOUT A MALE BREADWINNER,AND SPANISH WOMEN BALANCED NUMEROUS ECONOMIC ROLES TO KEEP THEIR FAMILIES AFLOAT. YET FRANCO'S REGIME SOUGHT TO CONTROL THEIR HUMAN CAPITAL, CONFINING THEIR WORK TO THE HOME. AS A DOMESTIC VISION OF WOMANHOOD COULD NOT BE IMPOSED BY FORCE ALONE, WOMEN'S MAGAZINES SERVED AS MEDIATORS BETWEEN THE REGIME AND WOMEN. THIS ESSAY ANALYZES MAGAZINES' DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES ALONGSIDE ECONOMIC DATA, EXPLORING HOW THEIR DOMESTIC DOCTRINE DISPLACED RESPONSIBILITY FOR REGIME-CAUSED PROBLEMS ONTO WOMEN, WHILE ALSO HIGHLIGHTING THE POTENTIAL FOR UNINTENDED INTERPRETATIONS ON THE PART OF MAGAZINES' READERS.