Introducción: Un Movimiento Global y Digital

La Cuarta Ola del feminismo en España es un movimiento que comenzó a gestarse en la década de 1990 y que alcanzó su punto álgido con las históricas movilizaciones del 8 de marzo de 2018. Caracterizada por ser un movimiento de masas y de carácter global, utiliza las redes sociales para organizarse y se distingue por su composición intergeneracional. Esta ola ha trascendido las calles y el ámbito digital para impactar profundamente en el entorno laboral español. Sus reivindicaciones se centran en la lucha contra la violencia sexual, la paridad económica, la corresponsabilidad y la deconstrucción de estereotipos.

1. Análisis Histórico y Evolución del Movimiento en España

La clasificación de la historia del feminismo en «olas» es útil para evidenciar su larga trayectoria y genealogía. Sin embargo, la trayectoria del feminismo en España está profundamente marcada por el largo periodo de la dictadura franquista (1936-1975).

El Retorno a la Trilogía “Dios, Patria y Hogar”

La victoria de los nacionales y la llegada del régimen franquista supuso un enorme retroceso en el papel social y profesional de la mujer, destruyendo los logros y conquistas alcanzados durante la Segunda República. La visión tradicional del régimen vinculaba a la mujer exclusivamente con la reproducción y la vida familiar, convirtiéndola en un símbolo del hogar.

El discurso ideológico franquista, apoyado por la Iglesia, se sustentó en el nacional-catolicismo y persiguió convertir a las mujeres en garantes y legitimadoras del régimen a través de la familia. La imagen de la mujer se mitificó bajo la trilogía Dios, Patria y Hogar.

• Indoctrination and Subordination: The Sección Femenina (SF) of the Falange (created in 1934 and dissolved in 1977) was responsible for indoctrinating women to accept that their main objective was to marry and have children. The values promoted were submission, service, and sacrifice. Women were perceived as inferior to men, both intellectually and spiritually, and their lives were limited to the care of the home and children.
• Social Service and Legal Barriers: The Servicio Social was a kind of mandatory female «military service» for single women who wanted to obtain employment in public administration, a passport, a driving licence, or any academic diploma. This service lasted six months and included religious, political, and moral training, as well as charitable work. Legally, women were subordinate to men, even requiring spousal authorisation (licencia marital) to work or carry out financial transactions.
• The “Angel of the Home”: Pilar Primo de Rivera, national delegate of the SF, focused her discourse on «reconquering the home for women». In 1941, she explicitly stated that a woman's role was one of «absolute obedience and subordination» to men. The paid work of married women, and even potential mothers, was prohibited or discouraged on the grounds of protecting the family and promoting birth rates.

How do the models of femininity imposed by the Sección Femenina contrast with current feminist struggles?

The contrast between the model of femininity imposed by the Sección Femenina (SF) during Francoism and the struggles of current feminism (the Fourth Wave) is radical, reflecting a transition from female confinement to the private sphere and legal subordination, towards the demand for full autonomy, co-responsibility, and parity in the public and professional spheres.

Below is a detailed contrast based on the ideological, social, and professional axes extracted from the sources:

I. Primary Role and Sphere of Action

Model of the Sección Femenina (Francoism)	Current Feminist Struggles (Fourth Wave)
Ideological Focus	The model was mythologised under the trilogy God, Fatherland, and Home, seeking to turn women into guarantors and legitimisers of the regime through the family.
Sphere of Confinement	Women were exclusively linked to reproduction and family life. Their lives were limited to the care of the home and children, adopting the stereotype of the «angel of the home».
Mandatory Service	The Servicio Social (the female «military service») was imposed, a mandatory activity of political indoctrination and social control, relegating women to the role of reproducer and housewife.

II. Values and Legal Subordination

Model of the Sección Femenina (Francoism)	Current Feminist Struggles (Fourth Wave)
Values Promoted	The SF promoted values such as submission, service, and sacrifice, assuming that the woman's role in life was one of "absolute obedience and subordination" to man. Woman was seen as inferior to man, both intellectually and spiritually.
Legal Status and Autonomy	The Francoist regime reinstated the Civil Code of 1889, dispossessing women of previously acquired rights. Women were subordinate to men and required spousal authorisation (licencia marital) to work, travel, or carry out economic transactions.

III. Labour and Professional Sphere

Model of the Sección Femenina (Francoism)	Current Feminist Struggles (Fourth Wave)
Relationship with Work	The paid work of married women and even of "potential mothers" was prohibited or discouraged under the pretext of protecting the family. The biological incompatibility of women with work outside the home was emphasised.
Professional Advancement	Women who excelled intellectually were ridiculed, branded as "anti-women". The SF took it upon itself to limit their access to the public sphere.
Shared Responsibility in Care	The SF reinforced that women should dedicate themselves exclusively to domestic service. Women were key in the transmission of patriotic and Christian values to the family.

In summary, while the Sección Femenina sought to relegate, tutel, and indoctrinate women into a model of femininity based on obedience, the home, and renunciation of public and professional life due to "biological mandate", current feminist struggles aspire to the total deconstruction of these roles, fighting for economic autonomy, effective legal equality, safety against violence, and shared responsibility in care as the key to unlocking women's full professional development.

The Legislative Impulse towards Equality

The dismantling of the Francoist dictatorship led to a process of social, cultural, and technological modernisation in Spain. Legal advances in gender matters gained momentum in the 1990s at the European level, with Directive 96/34/EC establishing the individual right to parental leave.

At the state level, Law 39/1999 promoted work-life balance. However, the most significant legislative regulation was the Organic Law 3/2007 for Effective Equality between Women and Men (LOIE). This law expanded conciliation rights and set objectives to guarantee work-life balance and promote shared responsibility in domestic and family responsibilities.

What are the historical continuities between Francoist labour inequality and the contemporary gender pay gap?

Contemporary workplace inequality in Spain, particularly manifested in the gender pay gap, shows direct historical continuities with the gender model imposed during the Francoist regime. These continuities are not merely anecdotal but are rooted in the persistence of gender roles that relegate women to the sphere of caregiving, a concept that Francoism institutionalised and which today economically penalises female workers.

The main historical continuities between Francoist workplace inequality and the contemporary gender pay gap centre on the prioritisation of the female caregiving role and the economic penalisation of work outside the home:

1. The Perpetuation of the Exclusive Caregiver Role

The model of femininity imposed by the Francoist regime was based on the trilogy of God, Fatherland, and Home, whose ideology linked women exclusively with reproduction and family life.

• Subordination to the Home: The regime destroyed the achievements of the Second Republic and imposed a model of absolute subordination to men, where a woman's mission was confined to the home. Paid work for married women and even potential mothers was discouraged or prohibited, under the argument of biological incompatibility with work outside the private sphere.
• Continuity of the Caregiver Role: Today, although the law has changed, inequality persists in practice. The overwhelming reason why female workers opt for part-time work is the care of other people and children (96.77% in 2011). This demonstrates that, while women no longer need the marital licence, the social burden of family and domestic responsibilities continues to fall disproportionately on them, perpetuating the caregiver role that Francoism had institutionalised.

2. The Penalisation of Part-Time Female Employment

The gender pay gap is directly aggravated by the high concentration of women in part-time jobs, a situation linked to the caregiver role. This reality has its roots in the historical view of female work as secondary or precarious:

• The Precariousness of Part-Time Contracts: The excessive use of part-time contracts penalises almost two million women in Spain, leading them to live precariously and to grow old in conditions of poverty.
• The Link to the Future Pay Gap: The active female population predominantly occupies part-time work, which translates into lower contributions and, consequently, smaller pensions. This situation is the basis of the so-called 'feminisation of poverty'.
• Pay Gaps by Working Hours: Part-time work is a decisive factor in pay discrimination. The pay gap doubles compared to base salary and skyrockets in bonuses linked to availability (night shifts, shift work, or weekend work), as the possibility of carrying out family care duties discourages employers from hiring women for positions requiring high availability.

3. Horizontal and Vertical Segregation (Glass Ceiling and Sticky Floor)

The confinement of women to the private sphere during the Franco regime is reflected today in the segregation that limits their access to positions of power and better-paid sectors.

• Sticky Floor: Historically, the Franco regime confined women's roles to domestic service as their exclusive activity. Currently, women are the majority in sectors such as retail, hospitality, and cleaning services (elementary occupations), which are systematically poorly paid and precarious jobs. Elementary occupations have the highest pay gap by occupation, reaching 29.61% in 2022.
• Glass Ceiling: Although women have a higher level of education than men, their presence in senior management positions remains disproportionately low. During the Franco regime, women's education was discouraged and intellectual women were disqualified. Today, although the educational restriction has been reversed, the invisible barrier or "glass ceiling" prevents their advancement, a concept that describes how structures, prejudices, and the difficulty of balancing work and family life limit their professional development.

In essence, Franco-era workplace inequality laid the ideological and legal groundwork for assigning total responsibility for the home to women. Although coercive laws have disappeared, this underlying cultural assumption remains the structural driver behind the contemporary pay gap, forcing women into precarious and poorly paid employment models to fulfil that historical mandate of care.

2. The Fourth Feminist Wave and the Redefinition of the Professional Sphere

The Fourth Wave challenges the patriarchal backlash that emerged in the late eighties and has a strongly anti-capitalist core. In the professional sphere, it is articulated around three main axes:

The Economic Front: Against the Glass Ceiling and the Sticky Floor

The Fourth Wave advocates for economic and pay parity. Despite legislative advances (such as the LOIE of 2007), the imbalance between recognised rights and the real situation of women at work persists.

1. Pay Gap: In 2017, the gender pay gap stood at 15%, although more recent data (2022) show a decrease to 17.09% nationally, a reduction largely attributed to successive increases in the National Minimum Wage (SMI). However, 24.28% of employed women received the SMI at most in 2022, compared to 10.34% of men.
2. Glass Ceiling: The glass ceiling refers to the invisible barriers that prevent women from reaching leadership positions. In Spain, women are increasingly present in higher education, but their representation in senior management remains disproportionately low. In 2025, only two out of every ten CEOs are women (19.3%), despite women's presence in management positions being 38.4%. Women in management and executive roles earn almost ten thousand euros less per year than their male counterparts (a gap of 15.28% in 2022).
3. Sticky Floor: This phenomenon describes how women become trapped in precarious and low-paid jobs with few opportunities for promotion. Women are the majority in sectors such as cleaning, hospitality, and services. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the female active population predominantly holds temporary or discontinuous contracts and part-time jobs, resulting in lower contributions and smaller pensions, a phenomenon linked to the “feminisation of poverty”.

Co-responsibility and Work-Life Balance

The movement highlights that inequality in the distribution of unpaid work limits women's opportunities. The LOIE of 2007 attempted to promote co-responsibility, but the reality of maternity/paternity leave shows that women continue to be the primary caregivers.

• Care Leave: Only 3% of men cited caring for family members as a reason for opting for part-time work in 2022, compared to 16.2% of women. The overwhelming reason for female workers to have part-time jobs is the care of other people and children (96.77% in 2011).
• Double Shift and Pay Penalty: The pay gap doubles in allowances related to night work, shift work, or weekend work (around 22%), as the possibility of family care duties deters employers from hiring women for positions requiring high availability. Pay for overtime hours shows an extreme gap in favour of men, reaching a 69.21% difference.

Safety and Dignity: Appointment of Sexism

The fight against gender-based violence is a central pillar of the Fourth Wave. The movement has made visible that this violence is a structural problem affecting safety and professional careers.

Phenomena such as the hashtag #Cuéntalo and movements like #MeToo have empowered women to report workplace harassment. A 2019 study in Aragon revealed that 20.3% of incidents of sexual abuse, assault, or harassment occurred in the workplace. Furthermore, the popularisation of terms such as 'micromachismo' or 'mansplaining' has provided linguistic tools to name and combat subtle forms of everyday sexism in the professional environment.

3. Future Challenges in the Fight for Effective Equality

Despite significant progress in reducing the gender pay gap and the implementation of equality policies by companies holding the “Equality in the Company” (Red DIE) distinction, the Fourth Wave faces structural and regulatory challenges that must be addressed in the coming years:

• Legal Implementation in Senior Management: The law transposing the EU directive on gender balance in governance bodies is expected to come into force during 2025 and 2026, requiring a minimum of 40% female representation in the governance bodies and senior management of listed companies and other public and private entities. This is crucial given that only two out of ten CEOs are women.
• Pay Transparency: The establishment of Social Dialogue committees is required to transpose Directive (EU) 2023/970, which reinforces the application of the principle of equal pay through pay transparency measures. The Labour Inspectorate must carry out proactive action plans to correct the undervaluation of women's work.
• Review of Part-Time Work: It is essential to review the excessive use of part-time contracts, which penalises almost two million women in Spain with precariousness and the risk of poverty in old age.
• End of Wage Freezing by Minimum Wage: UGT demands that Article 26 of the Workers' Statute be amended to prevent the absorption and compensation of salary supplements in minimum wage increases, which currently keeps the wages of the poorest working population, predominantly women, frozen.
• Promotion of Male Co-responsibility: It is vital to promote cultural changes that encourage men's participation in caregiving (reducing their 'domestic absenteeism'), seeking male allies in the fight for equal opportunities and the transformation of organisational culture.

In essence, the Fourth Feminist Wave has mobilized society to name inequalities (from the pay gap to microaggressions), but the great future challenge lies in the effective translation of formal principles into tangible changes within business structures and, fundamentally, in the equitable distribution of unpaid work, where the social role of women continues to be that of caregivers.