Prostitution under Franco's dictatorship: an approach to the Provincial Board of Barcelona between 1943 and 1956

Abstract

Prostitution is, and has been, an activity persecuted in the name of public morality. Since the beginning of the 20th century, different institutions have been created and modified with different objectives regarding the safeguarding of feminine morality. In addition, “white slavery” was also prosecuted, that is, the trafficking of women and minors for the exercise of prostitution, which years later would be called “trafficking in persons.” In this work, the trajectory of these institutions will be reviewed, placing special emphasis on the Franco dictatorship, and approaching the Provincial Board of Barcelona for the Protection of Women from its creation in 1943 and until 1956, the year in which the law for the abolition of prostitution is approved. The recent publication of its archive collection allows us to verify different issues of interest, such as the topics of its information files, as well as its memories and the statistics that are found and that bear witness to intense activity until the entry of democracy and, with she, the extinction of the Board of Trustees.