Conclusions With this report, we have examined the world of women’s activism in Madrid in postconstitutional Spain. Their study allowed us to grasp the richness of the social and political processes performed by women that have been frequently invisible in the prevailing analyses of the Spanish political transition and post-constitutional period. Women’s activism, which strongly emerged in the 80s, shaped a large movement of women through a network organization that enlarged its social impact because it made possible the circulation of information, knowledge and the concerted action of claims and proposals of change in the legal, economic and social system which enabled women’s advancement. The voices of the protagonists, which are incorporated in this text, show the importance of the collective activity in the questioning of grounds traditionally assigned to women and the conquest of new knowledge, skills and behaviour patterns that led to a social and political commitment. I have characterized these processes of change as socializations for empowerment, following the proposal set forth by the anthropologist Teresa del Valle. Raising awareness of oppression and gender inequality through the organizational enclaves has a vital importance to redefine women’s lives and their incorporation into larger grounds of social and political impact. I have particularly focused on those associations that had feminist purposes in their explicit ends and on women who were part of them: working-class women from rural and urban fields, immigrants or housewives, so far unaware of the underground struggle for women’s rights that had been pioneered by feminist organizations in the years of political transition. However, through the analysis of discourses and social associative practices, personal and collective conquests that are difficult to be excluded from various feminist purposes as an emancipating movement have been proven. In the last thirty years, the situation of Spanish women has significantly changed in relation to education at all levels, employment, sexual and reproductive autonomy, the struggle against violence and the creation of a favourable public opinion of equality. These achievements have been possible due to the work sustained by hundreds of women’s organizations coordinated among them. Nevertheless, it is necessary to stress that the current financial and economic crisis that started in 2008 threatens the achievements gained in previous decades. These circumstances make the strengthening of organization and their interconnections necessary and also include the necessity of encouraging research to make it possible to develop new types of organizations, their members’ profiles, new demands and alternative proposals.
References ALONSO, Luis Enrique (1992), “Postfordismo, fragmentación social y crisis de los movimientos sociales”, in Sociología del trabajo, Siglo XXI, nº16, pp.119-140. _________________ (1993 “La reconstrucción de las señas de identidad de los nuevos movimientos sociales”, in Documentación Social, nº 90, pp.9-25. AMORÓS, Celia (1991) “El nuevo aspecto de la Polis”, in La balsa de la Medusa, nº 19-20, pp.119135.
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