Spanish streets named after dictator to be renamed after powerful women

What’s in a street name? In Spain, the answer is a whole lot of history.

With this in mind, certain street names in select cities in Spain will soon be changed. Instead of honouring former dictator Francisco Franco and other relics of his regime, the streets will be named after history’s most accomplished women.

Some 90 per cent of the streets in Spain are currently named after men, and those honouring women are mostly named after saints, reports Qz.com.

Back in 2007, the Spanish government passed a law that promised to do away with names that referenced Franco’s 36-year reign.

Starting in February, the government will begin enforcing that law, and signs marking streets and squares named after generals and dictators will begin disappearing.

In light of this development, many Spanish municipalities have decided to take it a step further and rename those streets after women. In Valencia, Bilbao, Oviedo and Cadiz, municipal governments plan to name 80 per cent of new streets after women, reports CityLab.com.

Many will honour women who were persecuted by Franco’s government. There will likely be more than a few “Calle Soledad Cazorla” street signs popping up around the country — Cazorla was the first public prosecutor to specialise in gender violence.

In the city of Leon where the public gets to vote on street names, there a few named after Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, and Jane Austen.

Spain isn’t the only country with this problem. In Montreal, only six per cent of streets and public works are currently named after women. A recent initiative will see the public select the names of 375 important women, which will then be assigned to streets and parks in 2017.