Women's Movement in the Ukrainian Lands (End of the 19th - Early 20th Century) on the Ego-Documents of the Kosach and Grinchenko Families

Abstract

The formation of the women's movement in the Ukrainian lands at the end of the 19th – in the early 20th century is a fundamental subject as gender issues provoke discussions among researchers also in the contemporary Ukrainian society. Although the birth of feminism and the emergence of an organized women's movement in the Ukrainian territories have been sufficiently covered by documentary sources, the historians have not yet used the ego-documents. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the women's movement of that time, using the ego-documents (mostly correspondence) of Kosach and Grinchenko intellectual families, whose representatives played a prominent role in the fight for women's rights. The ego-documents are regarded as an indispensable source for reproducing not only facts but also reflecting the realities of that time and the epoch features. The research materials demonstrate the difference in the situation of the Dnieper Ukraine (in Russia) and Western Ukraine (in Austro-Hungary), as well as the contrast between the principles of the women's movement and the women’s real position in society. The ego-documents reflect the inclusion of the fight for women's rights in the general context of the Ukrainian socio-political movement development caused by the conservative policies of the imperial governments and the preservation of patriarchal traditions in society.

Keywords

• women's movement
• dnieper ukraine
• western ukraine
• ego-documents
• women's rights
• feminism
• patriarchal traditions