ABSTRACT
This article by Magda Gellan in Woman To-day, entitled ‘The Women’s Front in Spain’ typifies one way in which the war in Spain was presented to women in Britain, through reference to the phenomenon of the miliciana. Woman To-day, a monthly magazine published by the British Section of the Women’s World Committee Against War and Fascism, was aimed at the ‘thinking’ woman, interested in articles on international affairs and social improvements, but also included a smattering of contrasting features such as ‘Frocks for Spring Parties’ and ‘Thumbsucking Infants – Should They or Shouldn’t They?’2 The article quoted above invokes the reader’s empathy, asking each of them to imaginatively enter into another person’s reality. British women were being asked to consider the almost unthinkable, but perhaps rather exciting, notion of being transformed from a mundane housewife into a miliciana, leaving behind domestic duties to defend democracy and the chance of a better life for the family. In contrast, the more down to earth reality of British women’s traditional role as fund raisers for such causes
was depicted on the front cover of the Christmas issue in 1937. However, rather than showing the arduous foot-slogging work involved, the idealised image romanticised door-to-door collections by portraying a well-dressed, wide-eyed and high-browed young woman appealing for ‘Milk for the Mothers of Spain’, smiling as she stands, tin in hand, daintily adorned with gently falling snow and framed by holly leaves. The readers of Woman To-Day could identify comfortably with this image and share her wish to contribute to the appeal.
