Femele Intervention in the Francoist’s rural world (Spain 1939-1975). The ambulant chairs of the Women Section of the Spanish Falange and its work of sanitary and social disclosure

Abstract

The Ambulant Chairs (Cátedras) were a service founded by Female Section of Falange in 1946. This service was intended to carry out health and social outreach work covering rural areas “not only culturally but also in the ideological aspect2. The teams were composed of women trained as rural instructors, physical education, home, youth and health and social disclosure. They were the agents of Falangist social justice politics in rural areas. They combined their hygienist discourse with the ideals of religion, country and culture. The Ambulant Chairs put the social agents in contact with the population -in their opinion- poor, ignorant and needed to be instructed in basic issues of childcare and home. The professionals were trained and selected to fulfill this function. They had to stayed convinced with their work because they were the saving messengers of the new Regime and a transmission belt between the population and the State. These schools on wheels intended to promote alternative development to avoid the rural exodus, to recover local culture and traditions, socially and economically promote the peoples, functions that connect with Social Work.