This project examines the long-term sociopolitical legacy and detrimental effects of authoritarianism using Francoist Spain as a case study. For nearly four decades, Franco’s regime relied on violence, legal repression, and the support of the Catholic Church to enforce a patriarchal social order that stripped women of autonomy and enforced fascist ideals of femininity, faith, and family. While Spain transitioned to democracy after Franco’s death in 1975, the effects of his rule, particularly regarding women’s repression, remained embedded in Spanish women and the larger society at whole. This ongoing research will combine historical analysis with qualitative interviews conducted with Spanish citizens who lived during, or shortly after the regime. Through these materials, the project will ultimately examine how ideologies under authoritarianism are internalized, produce lasting structural and embodied harm for victims, and continue to manifest in global contemporary politics. Using the work of scholars such as Saz, Morcillo, Mate and Nash, the study situates Francoism within the broader theoretical framework of authoritarian persistence and gendered repression. Ultimately, this project seeks to uncover the intergenerational effects of Francoist Spain to highlight that the horrors of authoritarian rule do not end with the fall of a dictator, and why the reemergence of such ideologies in contemporary politics remains a profound cause for concern.