The dream home: the domestic and feminine ideal in Spain in the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

This article explores the formation of the domestic ideal (or ideals) and its relationship with feminine ideals in Spain during the final period of Franco's dictatorship (1960s and 1970s). The complexity of this historical moment, in which important transformations were taking place in the country, means that the analysis must be carried out from different sources. On the one hand, some Francoist documents and organisations show what the official ideal of the home and the role of women in it was, and how this changed throughout the dictatorship. On the other hand, Spain's entrance into the logic of mass consumer society in the mid-1960s made it necessary to study the domestic and feminine ideal from the perspective of advertising and consumerism. Magazines aimed at women, such as Cocina y Hogar, are an invaluable source for this purpose. The contrast between these ideals and the reality and experiences of the housewives of these decades is the final piece to understand how women at the end of Franco's dictatorship dreamt of their home.