Women should remain very womanly: female university students and work in Spain in 1968

Abstract

May 1968 was not especially feminist, but it was a milestone for the feminist movement that would take place during the following decades. The Spanish situation was anachronistic due to the long dictatorship was even more evident when talking about women. This article analyses the approaches that in the sixties and seventies were made in university environments (sociological studies and work guides) about the job opportunities for women. Alongside with both anachronistic and innovative positions, there was another one, intermediary and majority, that believed that women, even when they were working, had to remain «very womanly» and that job and family were hardly compatible options. Finally, we try to promote a reflection on what has been achieved in these decades in relation to the current worrying situation.