This study began with the question why was it so problematic for the majority of Hondarribian townspeople to accept the broader participation of women in the annual, military march known as the Alarde. To explain this dispute, almost four-hundred years of local history were examined from the limited archives of Hondarribia and some secondary sources. Most importantly, however, this study considers how gender practices were and are organised in the Basque town of Hondarribia. The controversy to extend female involvement in the Alarde resulted in two positions between betikoak traditionalists, (Betiko Alardearen Aldekoak, ‘Always the Town’s Alarde’), and local ‘feminists’ (emakumealdekoak or Emakumeak Juana Mugarrietakoa, the Women of Mugarrietakoa, WJM), the former group wishing to pre ...