The “ravnopravki” and the movement for the equality of rights through historiography

Abstract

Starting with a review of the historiographical debate about women and the Russian Revolution, this paper deals with the role that Russian feminists, the ravnopravki, played in the fight for the equal rights of women. Through some of the protagonists of feminist associations, the focus is on the Suffragist movement that was gaining momentum at a key moment for the Russian Empire between 1905 and 1917. Going from one revolution to another, from one Sunday to another (1905-1917), the analysis relies on the existing, though not-so-abundant literature and explores the ways in which women participated in the outbreak of the February Revolution, on 23 February or 8 March 1917, depending on the calendar adopted for International Women’s Day, which was disputed between Bolsheviks and feminists. Finally, consideration is given to another important date in the history of the revolutionary role of the movement of Russian women and its description in historiography, 19 March 1917, when 40,000 women marched down the Nevsky Prospect under the slogan: Equality for women! and obtained universal suffrage from the new Provisional Government.