  The nature of the UV-Optical continuum in Seyfert 2 galaxies is a matter of
current debate, fundamental to which is the issue of characterizing and
quantifying the stellar population contribution to the nuclear spectra. Using
high S/N long-slit spectroscopy of a sample of 20 Seyfert 2 galaxies, we have
applied a novel approach to investigate the nuclear stellar population in these
galaxies. Our main results are: (1) the stellar populations in Seyfert 2
galaxies are varied, and in most cases cannot be adequately represented by an
elliptical galaxy template, as done in previous works; (2) the central kpc of
most Seyfert 2's contain substantially larger proportions of 100 Myr stars than
either elliptical galaxies or normal spirals of the same Hubble type. One
important consequence of our findings is that the controversial nature of the
so called ``second'' featureless continuum (FC2) in Seyfert 2's is most likely
a result of inadequate evaluation of the stellar population.
