title: [Gender and profession in the historical development of community nursing in Spain].
abstract: Community and public health is probably the field where nurses have achieved the highest levels of professional independence, and their contribution is most valued. However, there are still major obstacles to full development, some of them linked to gender. It is therefore important to analyse the historical background of this situation in Spain in order to gain a better understanding of the many problems and shortcomings that still persist in Community Nursing today. Community nurses contributed to the development of Public Health in contemporary Spain, starting in the 1920s and culminating in the Second Republic. However, the Franco regime brought a halt to the process of professionalisation. By analysing the public conflict between visiting female nurses and practicantes (professional male medical auxiliary technicians) during the Second Republic and throughout the Franco regime, we examine the impact of gender on the development of nursing in Spain as one of the conditioning factors, and how it continues to influence the structuring of competencies and the distribution of responsibilities and power in this field.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermería Comunitaria, Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública e Historia de la Ciencia, Grupo Balmis de Investigación en Salud Comunitaria e Historia de la Ciencia, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, España.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bernabeu-Mestre
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrillo-García
authors.forename: María Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Galiana-Sánchez
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: García-Paramio
authors.forename: Eva María
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Trescastro-López
mesh_terms: D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D006676:History of Nursing; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain
keywords: Community health nursing; Enfermería en salud comunitaria; Gender identity; Historia de la enfermería; Identidad de género; Nursing history; Public health; Salud pública