Women and State: between prevention and protection (1900-1912)the scenarios of the first social legislation in Spain from a gender perspective

Abstract

This study aims to examine the motives leading to the first social legislation in Spain that specifically and uniquely regulated women�s work. With this purpose in mind, the article makes a detailed survey of the first legal provisions, with different senses and purposes, enacted in our country that entailed specific regulation of female work. Time-wise, the study spans from 1900, when the law dated the 13th of March regulating the working conditions of women and minors was enacted, to 1912, when the law dated the 27th of February entered into force, known as the Ley de la silla (Law of the Chair), along with the law dated the 11th of July banning women from working nightshifts in workshops and factories. By more deeply examining this issue and basing our examination on the earliest legal-regulatory texts on social matters, the article aims to shed light on the true intent of the legislation in the early 20th century in relation to the earliest regulations on women�s work; from this we proceed to a historical-legal analysis of the first social norms from a gender perspective.