Women in the Federación Anarquista Ibérica

Women in the Federación Anarquista Ibérica were often only addressed because of what they appeared to be able to offer male FAI leadership in terms of attracting adept fighters and politicians.

[1][2][3] FAI and CNT's official rift came in 1927 during a clandestine meeting in 1927 in Valencia which saw the group's formal creation, with García Oliver chosen as their initial leader.

[6] In contrast to the dominant machismo of the period found in organizations like the CNT, the FAI was radical in their support of free women.

[1] In the 1920s, this group of anarchists viewed women having fewer children, increased sex education and the elimination of prostitution as positions that would provide resistance to the institutions and ideologies they opposed, including capitalism, religion and the military.

[2][7][8][9] With few exceptions, women were effectively locked out of the two largest and most important anarchist organizations in Spain, Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica.

[5][6] The animosity expressed by FAI, CNT and FIJL in this period bothered Mujeres Libres greatly, these women viewing anarchist leaders as believing in strict gender roles that perpetuated patriarchy and machismo.

He and his wife Mercedes Comaposada Guillén, together with Lucía Sánchez Saornil and Amparo Poch y Gascón created the Mujeres Libres magazine.

[10] The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and the Federación Anarquista Ibérica continued their role in leading the anarchist movement as the Spanish Civil War period started.

Representing working-class people, both groups set out to prevent the Nationalists from seizing control while also serving as reforming influences inside Spain.

[10] Casa CNT-FAI would soon see regular visits by FAI affiliated women including María de la Concepción Martí Fuster and Dolores Cascante.

[5] From her position as a CNT-FAI representative, Montseny enacted policies that allowed for the legalization of abortion in parts of Spain still controlled by Republican forces, sex education and the distribution of contraceptives.

[1][5][10] The end of the Civil War saw Martí Fuster removed from both FAI and CNT membership, probably as a result of her refusal to cooperate with Stalinists in their battle against Nazi Germany in France.