Casares de las Mujeres

A project to recover the role of women in Casares throughout history

Mujeres de Casares: Women’s strike
Hunger and justice

At the end of the 19th century, Casares was plunged into the crisis of the turn of the century. Years of drought, decreased wheat production, phylloxera devastating the vineyards, the Cuban War, emigration to South America, and local political corruption ravaged the area. Hunger demonstrations were frequent on the streets of the town.

In all towns in Spain, products of “eat, drink, and burn” were locally taxed with the “Impuesto al Consumo” (Consumption Tax). The request for abolition provoked in 1898 the “Motín de Casares” (Casares Riot), a general strike led exclusively by women, led by the owners and workers of the bread ovens of Casares: “las mujeres consumeras”.

Motín de mujeres en Casares. Recorte de la noticia en el Heraldo de Madrid del 16 de mayo de 1898
Women’s riot in Casares. Clipping from the news in ‘el Heraldo de Madrid’ on May 16, 1898 (Digital Hemeroteca of the National Library of Spain

Text: Benito Trujillano Mena (Official Chronicler of Casares)