Women's Protection Board

The Board for the Protection of Women or Women's Protection Board (Spanish: Patronato de Protección a la Mujer) was a public institution in Francoist Spain, established in 1941 under the Ministry of Justice.^: 76 Infamous for its brutality, human rights violations, and involvement in baby abductions, the Board targeted girls and young women, confining them in reformatories as part of the broader Francoist repression. The institution survived Spain’s democratic Transition, only being fully dismantled well into the first government of Felipe González.

During Franco’s regime, the Board operated closed internment centers, usually run by Catholic religious orders, which confined girls and young women considered “fallen” or "at risk of falling," even if they had committed no crime. At its peak, these centers simultaneously held more than 41,000 girls and young women—around 1.7% of all females aged 15–24 in Spain at the time. Admissions could occur from age 16, triggered by police raids against “immoral behavior,” arbitrary accusations by relatives or self-appointed “guardians of morals,” requests from civil and religious authorities, or even by personal request from parents or the young women themselves. In practice, however, girls as young as 11 were forcibly interned.

The Patronato was structured into a National Board—whose honorary president was Franco’s wife, Carmen Polo—and fifty provincial boards.^: 89

In 1996, a large number of documents related to the Board and the whereabouts of babies born in its centers went missing.^{: 355–356}