Clara Campoamor. La mujer olvidada

An agreeable TV Movie about a fundamental woman in the Spanish history , Clara Campoamor (Elvira Minguez) , she was a Spanish feminist writer and activist who made feminine suffrage possible in Spain. She was one of the first women to attend university in Spain as well as a brilliant advocate at law . Ideologically , Campoamor was a reformist deeply rooted in liberal ideology . She was also a pioneer and founder of the feminist movement in Spain and especially , she was a notorious Congresswoman . After proclaiming the Second Republic, Clara Campoamor was elected deputy of Madrid constituency in the 1931 elections (then women could be elected, but not electors) by the Radical Party led by Alejandro Lerroux (Fermí Reixach) and Álvarez Buylla . She had joined this party because it was "republican, liberal, secular and democratic" and followed her own political ideology . Clara fought against the sexual descrimination, for the legal equality of children born within and outside marriage, the right to divorce and the universal suffrage, often called "women's vote". She achieved everything except for the vote, which had to be debated in the Spanish Parliament. The Left, with the exception of a group of Socialists and some Republicans, did not want women to vote because they were supposed to be heavily influenced by the Church and would vote in favor of the Right . Therefore, the Socialist Radical Party faced Clara with another recognized deputy, Victoria Kent (Mónica López) , and subsequently Álvarez Buylla (Joan Carreras) who were against the women's right to vote . The final debate on October 1 was a big event. Campoamor was considered the winner, and as a consequence, the adoption of the article 36, which enabled women's suffrage, was achieved with 161 votes in favor, 121 against. She was supported by most of the Socialist Party members -with some important exceptions like Indalecio Prieto - many of the right, almost all members of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and small republican groups like the Progressives and the Association of Defense of the Republic. The Republican Action, the Socialist Radical Party and the Radical Party itself, except four other fellows, were positioned against her, and this was what displeased Clara the most. Campoamor's achievements were extraordinary in a largely traditional Spain, focusing her work on those marginalised women and their freedom and equality .

Interesting and thought-provoking film , including a strong social denounce agains female discrimination , concerning a hard fight and the way in which Campoamor was forgotten. As Campoamor critics the theories defending the inferiority of women based on biological reasons and their extreme weakness . It contains a sour denounce against inequality and feebleness that by the time women were really considered . Elvira Minguez as Campoamor gives a very good and sensitive acting . Being supported by a fine cast , many of them incarnating famous politicians , such as : Jordi Sanchez as Gil Robles , Mónica López as Victoria Kent , Joan Carreras as Álvarez Buylla , Jan Massotkleiner as Alcalá Zamora , Mingo Ràfols as Manuel Azaña , Xavier Amatller as Companys and Fermí Reixach as Alejandro Lerroux . The motion picture was competently directed by Laura Maña . She is an actress and director, known for Libertarias (1996), La Teta Y La Luna (1994) and Trece Campanadas (2002). She has directed a few and decent films as Sexo Por Compasión , Morir En San Hilario , Palabras Encadenadas , Ni Dios Ni Patrón Ni Marido, Vida Empieza Hoy and in similar style to Clara Campoamor Laura Mañá made Conceción Arenal , la Visitadora de Carceles .

The film delivers an enjoyable description of Campoamor's life , adding more biographic remarks , these are the following ones : Campoamor was born in Madrid to a working-class family. She had to begin working as a seamstress at age 13, but continued to study part-time on the side, eventually seeking to pass the test that would guarantee her entry into law school.In the interim, she worked her way up through a number of government positions, first with the Post Office in San Sebastián in 1909, then as a typing teacher in Madrid in 1914. As a teacher, she began to become involved in the Madrid political scene, taking a second job with a liberal newspaper. After successfully taking the law school entrance exam and entering the University of Madrid School of Law, Campoamor continued to work multiple jobs; as a teacher, as a secretary for the newspaper, and as a typist for the government. She also began writing political commentary and joined women's organizations.After she earned her degree in 1924 at age 36 and entered practice, Campoamor began participating in debating and intellectual societies in Madrid. Her practice specialized in issues affecting women, including paternity cases and issues related to marriage. She would champion these issues in the professional organizations she became a member of, and the International Federation of Women Lawyers that she helped found in 1928. Campoamor successfully advocated in 1927 for improvements to the child labor laws and electoral law changes. When it became legal for women to run for the Constituent Assembly that would write a new constitution in 1931, she was part of the Constitutional Commission in charge of the preparation of the draft of the Constitution of the new republic composed of 21 deputies. Clara stood for a seat and was elected despite her inability to vote in the election. She became the first woman to address the constituent assembly of Spain that October, in a speech warning the male members of the assembly that their continued exclusion of women from voting was a violation of natural law. Her strong advocacy for women's rights was opposed not only by political conservatives and conservative Roman Catholics but by men on the left and even one of only two other women in the assembly, Victoria Kent, who believed women would be strongly influenced by Catholic priests. When her own party decided to oppose women's suffrage, she left the party and continued to advocate for suffrage as an independent member of the assembly. Throughout her political career, Campoamor insisted that her main role was to be a spokesperson for women, and women's issues remained her primary concern. Despite her independent affiliation and the strong party system at that time, with the support of women's activists throughout Spain she was able to secure equal legal status for women in the new constitution.Following the assembly's drafting of the new constitution, Campoamor became a political outcast because of her outspoken advocacy and willingness to abandon her party on principle. She lost her seat in parliament in 1933, but was appointed Director of Public Welfare from 1933 to 1934. In 1936, as the rumblings of the Spanish Civil War brought violence to Madrid, she fled the country in fear for her life. Settling in Lausanne, Switzerland, she was barred from returning to Francoist Spain, unless she gave up names of allies and publicly apologized for past statements against the Catholic Church. As an exile, she continued to write about feminism and her experiences in politics. Campoamor died in exile in Switzerland 1972. Her ashes were repatriated and buried at the Polloe Cemetery in San Sebastián