Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito

Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito is a royal Spanish philanthropic organization, founded 27 August 1787 by king Charles III of Spain and was inaugurated on 5 October of that same year. Spain's first secular civic association for women, it was the female branch of the all male equivalent society Real Sociedad Económica Matritense de Amigos del País (Madrid Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country), which had been founded in 1775 and was a prestigious society of the Spanish Age of Enlightenment. In the early days of the Junta de Damas, members met every Friday in the meeting room of the Casas Consistoriales (Town Hall) to discuss and report on various projects.

The association was created after the honorary admission of María Isidra Quintana de Guzmán y de la Cerda and María Josefa Alfonso Pimentel y Tellez-Girón to the Real Sociedad Económica Matritense. After a public debate over the admittance of women, the Junta de Damas was created to be a separate section of the society to provide a public space for women during the Enlightenment period. Notable public figures, such as Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Francisco de Cabarrús, and Josefa Amar y Borbón, participated in the public discourse. One of the most notable essays to come from these debates was Discurso en defensa del talento de las mujeres, y de su aptitud para el gobierno, y otros cargos en que se emplean los hombres, penned by Amar y Borbón to defend the inclusion of women in intellectual circles.  

The society supported and inspected several schools and establishments for women and children. Their goal was to educate women in skills appropriate to their class, so that all levels of society could participate in the improvement of the nation. Their push to increase women's participation in the production of domestic goods led to the formation of many of the programs that later became a large part of their legacy.

The motto of the Sociedad Económica Matritense was Socorre enseñando (Help by teaching) which the Junta de Damas followed through their various projects.

The Junta de Damas was granted its own legal entity by Royal Order on July 30, 1920, in order to conduct its business.