All-Russian League for Women's Equality (russian: Всероссийская лига равноправия женщин) was the most important women's organization in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

from 1907 to the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

of 1917. It was officially registered on 6 March 1907. Its membership was restricted to women and generally varied between 1,500 and 2,000 members with main branches in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and several smaller regional chapters, including those in

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

and

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a n ...

. It was governed by a 16-member council serving three-year terms. Many former members and leaders of the Union for Women's Equality joined the league, including Zinaida Mirovich, Anna Kalmanovich, Liudmila Ruttsen, Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Jekaterina Shchepkina, and Olga Shapir. The league combined philanthropic goals, education and mutual aid, with political agenda of equal rights. The league lobbied State Duma and succeeded in passing laws equalizing inheritance rights and removing passport restrictions for married women, but despite multiple efforts failed to pass laws on

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. The league organized women congresses, including the First All-Russian Women's Congress on 23–29 December 1908 and the First All-Russian Congress on Women's Education on 26 December 1912 – 4 January 1913 in Saint Petersburg. The February Revolution of 1917 and the celebration of the International Women's Day invigorated the league. On 20 March, the league organized a mass demonstration with approximately 40,000 women marching from the City Duma to State Duma. Under the leadership of Poliksena N. Shishkina-Iavein, the League also submitted a Petition to the Russian Provisional Government demanding equal voting and other rights for women under the new regime. Shishkina-Iavein, P. N. VIA Record: Shishkina-Iavein, Poliksena Nesterovna (1875-1947) Petition from March 4, 1917 to the Russian Provisional Government. Retrieved February 21, 2018, from http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/8001007242/catalog Two days later the women received a promise of women's suffrage from Prince Georgy Lvov, head of the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...

. The law was passed on 20 July 1917. The league disintegrated soon after the October Revolution.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite encyclopedia , first= Rochelle , last=Goldberg Ruthchild , title=Liga ravnopraviia zhenshchin , encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Russian Women's Movements , editor-first=Norma C. , editor-last=Noonan , editor-first2=Carol , editor-last2=Nechemias , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qk-ICsx5L90C&pg=PA38 , publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group , year=2001 , isbn=9780313304385 , pages=38–40 Feminist organizations in Russia Organizations based in the Russian Empire Organizations established in 1907 Organizations disestablished in 1917 1907 establishments in the Russian Empire 1917 disestablishments in Russia Voter rights and suffrage organizations