The Development of women's rights in Lithuania: striving for political equality
ENIn Lithuania, the struggle for women’s political rights was closely related to the process of democratization and liberation from Russian occupation. Both men and women were active in the struggle for independence. The Lithuanian Women’s Movement started in 1905 as a platform that united women in the fight for both Lithuania’s independence and political equality with men. As a result, women and men won their voting rights at the same time. Indeed, women’s sufffrage cannot be separated from the development of men’s political rights at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century and both were a result of national and political events. In 1905, the Great Seimas of Vilnius recognized men and women equal rights. The provisional Constitution of November 1918 then recognised equal voting rights in elections to the Seimas (parliament) to all Lithuanians, regardless of gender and estate. Lithuanians of both genders voted and were elected to the first Constituent Seimas in the first national elections in 1920. From 1920 to 1926, women were active parliamentarians and played an important role in constitutional developments. Women’s political activity was suspended between 1926 and 1990 and renewed after the re-establishment of the Lithuanian state in 1990. [...]. [Extract, p. 79]
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