Strategies and Tactics of the Lithuanian Women’s Movement: Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

The strategies and tactics of the Lithuanian women’s movement helped to change the attitudes of society, political parties, altered political, educational and legal systems and expanded the field of relevant issues on the international level. However, the state’s existence period (1918–1940) was too short for women to be able to fully realise them; thus, most of the formed strategies are relevant today and are realised. The examples of strategy implementation ways show that women’s actions were important for the society and the state and had direct impact on their development. The second strategic period is very important; during this period, Lithuanian women were granted political rights. Novelty of work. The article provides the correct date of women being granted suffrage based on historical sources, i.e., 20 November 1919, the law on election of the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania. It does not coincide with the notion established in the Lithuanian historiography that the date is 2 November 1918. The author proves that this error emerged due to incorrect interpretation of the article in the 2 November 1918 Lithuanian Temporary Constitution on the person’s (citizen’s) rights. Moreover, the researcher takes on a new approach towards the Lithuanian women’s movement through the prism of implementation of strategies and tactics. This approach towards the history of the Lithuanian women’s movement is new. The methods of descriptive, analytical and comparative research. The sources studied are: historical sources, including state documents, archival materials, monographs, survey studies, biographical studies, memoirs, private letters, press, etc.