Achievements and Failures of Feminism in the Spanish Transition: Women’s crimes, decriminalized but not amnestied

Abstract

Women’s rights movements had a decisive influence on the criminal reforms carried out in the Spanish Transition regarding the then so-called ‘women’s crimes’, i.e. the crimes of adultery and cohabitation, abortion, contraception, rape and abduction, and abandonment of the home. The mobilizations promoted by feminism largely achieved their objectives, as most of the criminal legislation on the subject was modified. However, feminism did not succeed in exerting sufficient political pressure to ensure the inclusion of the women convicted for these crimes in the 1977 Amnesty Law. This law was not repealed, so those convictions remain in force.