The National League of Latvian Women or Latvian Women's National League (Latvijas Sieviesu Nacionālā līga) was a Latvian women's organization. As was the case in Estonia, women's rights had been a subject of public debate in the press since the 1880s, mainly in connection to the nationalism. As in the other Baltic countries however, no political organizations could exist prior to the introduction of Parliamentatism in Russia in 1905. A couple of smaller women's associations were founded after 1905, but they dealt with limited subjects. The League was founded in Saint Petersburg in Russia in 1917. It was an ideological society for Latvian refugees with a national consciousness. In 1922, the League was renewed in Riga in independent Latvia.

Zelma Cēsniece-Freidenfelde Zelma Cēsniece-Freidenfelde (17 February 1892 – 22 December 1929) was a Latvian physician and politician. In 1920 she was one of the six women elected to the Constitutional Assembly, Latvia's first female parliamentarians. Biography Cēsniece ...

served as its first chairperson, followed by Berta Pipina. It mostly tended to charities for women and children. It maintained kinder gartens, provided care and health information for mothers and children, and provided evening courses for women; notably a two-year weaving courses. The Latvian Women's National was a member of the

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., with ...

. In 1925, it became a part of the

Council of Latvian women's organizations Council of Latvian women's organizations (Latviesu Sieviesu Organizāciju Padome) was a Latvian women's rights organization, founded in 1925. It was an umbrella organization and united most of the women's organizations in Latvia during the int ...

which was an umbrella organization for The National League of Latvian Women (1922), Assistant Corps of Latvian Women (1919), YWCA Young women's Christian Association, the Association of Academically Educated Latvian Women (1928), the Association of Latvian Theologians, the society «State Employee» and other women's associations: as a part of the umbrella organization, these associations worked to improve woman's position in family, work, society and state, and published a monthly, «Latvian Woman».

References

{{reflist * https://prod-cdn.atria.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/22101033/LIEL-19920001.pdf * Francisca de Haan, Krasimira Daskalova, Anna Loutfi,
Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central
' Organizations established in 1917 1917 establishments in Russia 1940 disestablishments in Latvia Organizations disestablished in 1940 Women's organisations based in Latvia