PhD thesis defence by Magalí Serra Duran
This dissertation examines how women were incorporated into democratic politics following enfranchisement and what political consequences this process generated over time. More broadly, the dissertation conceptualises women’s suffrage not simply as a legal reform extending voting rights, but as a broader process of democratic incorporation and political socialisation unfolding across different political regimes and stages of the life course. Focusing on Spain throughout the 20th century, the thesis studies how newly enfranchised women entered the electorate, how democratic experiences shaped political behaviour under authoritarianism, and whether democratic inclusion generated long-run attitudinal legacies. The dissertation makes three main contributions. First, using newly constructed individual-level electoral datasets, I show that women’s mobilisation following enfranchisement was strongly shaped by gendered social networks. Women were substantially more likely to vote when they had a sister who voted, highlighting the importance of informal female networks during the first democratic elections after suffrage extension. Second, drawing on individual-level turnout records from the 1947 Francoist referendum, I examine how prior democratic experiences shaped political behaviour under authoritarian rule, showing that individuals exposed to democratic elections were generally more likely to participate under Francoism, suggesting the persistence of civic habits across regimes. At the same time, individuals with stronger democratic commitments became more likely to abstain, indicating that democratic experiences could also foster resistance to authoritarian mobilisation. Third, using survey data, I examine the long-run attitudinal consequences of women’s enfranchisement. The findings provide cautious evidence that democratic incorporation contributed to more progressive attitudes toward gender equality and social liberalism later in life, particularly in historically more gender traditional provinces.
Magalí Serra Duran is a PhD candidate at the European University Institute under the supervision of Elias Dinas and Simon Hix. Her research sits at the intersection of political behaviour and historical political economy. Her doctoral work focuses on the extension of voting rights to women and its consequences with a quantitative approach. In October 2026, she will join Science Po as a Postdoctoral researcher at the POLLOT project.
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