Carlota Bustelo

Carlota Bustelo García del Real
Bustelo in 2011
Undersecretary of Social Affairs of Spain
In office29 July 1988 – 28 September 1990
PresidentFelipe González
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJosé Ignacio Pérez Infante
Director of the Institute of Women
In office15 December 1983 – 29 July 1988
PresidentFelipe González
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byCarmen Martínez Ten
Legislator in the Cortes Generales
In office1 July 1977 – 2 January 1979
ConstituencyMadrid
Personal details
Born(1939-11-01)1 November 1939
Madrid, Spain
Died15 October 2025(2025-10-15) (aged 85)
PartySpanish Socialist Workers' Party
Spouse
Juan Manuel Kindelán
​
​
(m. 1960; died 2011)​
Children3
ProfessionPolitical scientist

Carlota Bustelo García del Real (1 November 1939 – 15 October 2025) was a Spanish politician and feminist who is considered a historic figure of the Spanish socialism during the Transition.[1] She was a founding member of the Front for Women's Liberation in 1976.[2] She served as a deputy for Madrid in the Constituent Legislature (1977–1979) and was the first director of the Institute of Women (Spain) (1983–1988).[3][4]

Early life and education

Bustelo came from a socialist and liberal family and was educated following the principles of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza.

Her grandfather, Ramón Bustelo, was a deputy and senator during the Restoration. Her brothers Francisco Bustelo and Carlos Bustelo were also politically active, the former as deputy and rector of the Complutense University of Madrid, and the latter as Minister of Industry under Adolfo Suárez. She was the niece of pedagogue and writer Matilde García del Real y Álvarez Mijares and cousin of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. She married socialist Juan Manuel Kindelán. She graduated in Political Science from the Complutense University of Madrid.[5]

Political career

Bustelo joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1974, after the Suresnes Congress. She lived in exile in Paris with her husband before returning to Spain in 1964, where she began clandestine political activity and feminist advocacy, collaborating with the Association of Housewives and the Spanish Association of University Women.

She co-founded the Federal Commission Women and Socialism with other PSOE feminists such as Elena Arnedo in 1975, to propose gender equality policies within the party.

Elected deputy for Madrid in the 1977 general election, she advocated for contraceptive legalization and constitutional equality. In 1979, she declined inclusion on PSOE electoral lists due to insufficient female representation.[6]

She served as the first director of the Institute of Women (1983–1988) and was Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs from 1988 to 1990, resigning due to fatigue.[7]

Women's rights advocacy

Bustelo participated in the early Spanish feminist movement, including the Democratic Women's Movement in the 1960s–70s.[8]

She promoted quotas and parity within political parties and contributed to the 1981 Divorce Law in Spain.[9] She defended sexual and reproductive rights, including abortion access, and addressed prostitution as a political and social issue.[10]

From 1994 to 1999, she was the founding president of Fundación Mujeres, later becoming honorary president.[11] In 2020, she renounced the financial award of the Luisa de Medrano International Equality Prize to benefit women victims of gender-based violence.[12]

Death

Bustelo died on 15 October 2025, at the age of 85.[13]

Awards and honours

Selected works

  • Reflexiones sobre mujer y feminismo (1977)
  • Una alternativa feminista (1979)
  • Prologue in Las Mujeres de los 90: El largo trayecto de las jóvenes hacia su emancipación (1991) by Josep María Riera, Josep María Riera Mercader, and Elena Valenciano

References

  1. ^"Bustelo García del Real, Carlota". Fundación Pablo Iglesias (in Spanish). 12 April 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  2. ^Karmentxu Marín (4 April 1983). "Carlota Bustelo: "El nombramiento de una feminista al frente del IDEM puede tener un sustrato de mala conciencia"". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  3. ^"Persona - Bustelo, Carlota (1939-)". PARES. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  4. ^"Las Constituyentes - Protagonists". www.lasconstituyentes.com. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. ^El País (30 July 1988). "Carlota Bustelo, 'segunda' de Asuntos Sociales". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  6. ^"Carlota Bustelo: "Mi partido no tiene interés por la mujer"". El País (in Spanish). 22 January 1979. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  7. ^El País (3 October 1990). ""Me voy por cansancio"". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  8. ^Francisco Arriero Ranz (2015). El movimiento democrático de mujeres, del antifranquismo a la movilización vecinal y feminista. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  9. ^Lola Huete Machado (2 December 2012). "Pioneras de la democracia". El País. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  10. ^Rosa Rivas (25 March 1994). "Un debate sobre prostitución compara a ésta con la venta de órganos". El País. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  11. ^"Organigrama de Fundación Mujeres". Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  12. ^"Bustelo renounces Luisa de Medrano award money for victims of gender-based violence". 3 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  13. ^"Muere Carlota Bustelo, exdiputada e histórica feminista del PSOE, a los 85 años". El País. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  14. ^"La organización feminista 'El Club de las 25' celebra veinticinco años de activismo". 21 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  15. ^El País (23 March 1996). "Premios Mujer Progresista". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  16. ^"El Gobierno concede a título póstumo la Gran Cruz del Mérito Civil a Carlota Bustelo". Diario ABC (in Spanish). 11 November 2025. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
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