Honorary Member of UARWH, civic activist, founder and director of the Museum of Women’s and Gender History in Kharkiv, Chair of the Board of the NGO «Centre of Gender Culture», expert and trainer in gender policy and education, a prominent leader of the women’s movement and educator.
Tetiana Isaieva was born in 1959 in Kharkiv, where she has spent most of her life. She graduated from the Kharkiv State Institute of Culture in 1980 with a degree in Library Science and Bibliography. In 2012–2014, she completed a master’s program in Higher Education Pedagogy at Kharkiv Polytechnic University.
From 1986 to 2008, she served as head librarian at Kharkiv Gymnasium No. 116, and from 2008 to 2013 as a department head at the Kharkiv Regional Youth Center. Her civic career developed in parallel.
In 2000–2001, she completed a social management course as part of the project “Establishing and Developing Regional Women’s Education Centers in Ukraine,” run by the Kharkiv Women’s Organization “Krona” — an experience that permanently linked her life with women’s activism. From 2003 to 2009, she conceived and edited the first 26 issues of the popular gender publication “Ia”, produced by the Gender Information and Analytical Center “Krona.”
The defining achievement of her life has been the founding of the first and to this day only Museum of Women’s and Gender History in Ukraine, which opened on March 1, 2009. To bring this vision to life, she selflessly gave up her own apartment, transforming it into a space of memory, education, and public history of the women’s and feminist movement. The museum’s collection now comprises over 4,000 exhibits and continues to grow.
Isaeva has presented the Museum of Women’s and Gender History at the Fifth (Mexico City), Second (Bonn), and Third (Buenos Aires) International Conferences of Women’s Museums.
Since 2016, her work has taken on a new institutional dimension with the launch of the «Centre of Gender Culture» project, which has grown into an inter-regional hub supporting women’s organizations in strengthening their organizational capacity and enhancing women’s influence on decision-making.
Her educational outreach spans a broad range of initiatives. From 2011 to 2014, she coordinated on a volunteer basis the national network of gender education units at Ukrainian universities. She also served as expert and curator of the EU and UN joint project “International Women’s Day — History in Photographs” (2011).
Under her leadership, a number of landmark educational projects have been carried out: the exhibitions “The Truth About March 8th” (2011), “365 Women’s Stories of Kharkiv” (2019), and “Incredible,” dedicated to remarkable women in history and culture; a feminist calendar; the project “HerTalks: Women Creators of Ukrainian Reality” (2024–2025); the video series “140 Years of Manifestation” about milestones of the Ukrainian women’s movement; and the educational game about outstanding Ukrainian women, “The Second Wreath.” In 2023, with her support, the Museum launched a large-scale campaign marking the 140th anniversary of the Ukrainian women’s movement, which included an international conference on the 170th anniversary of Nataliia Kobrynska, the Women’s Movement Forum in Vienna, and presentations of the exhibition “Incredible” in several European countries.
Tetiana Isaieva and the civic initiatives she leads are powerful champions of Ukrainian women’s history. UARWH has partnered with her on a number of these projects.
On December 1, 2025, during the General Assembly of the Ukrainian Association for Research in Women’s History, Tetiana Isaieva was unanimously elected Honorary Member of UARWH and presented with the Award for Dedicated Work in Promoting Women’s History
Watch the documentary about Tetiana Isaieva from the series “Feministka,” produced by the NGO “ZhyvaIA” (in Ukrainian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUSYp7isx-M
Read Tamara Martseniuk’s interview with Tetiana Isaieva about feminist educational activities and women’s museums on the platform “Gender in Detail” (in Ukrainian) https://genderindetail.org.ua/spetsialni-rubriki/bezstrashni/interv-yu-z-tetyanoyu-isaevoyu-pro-feministichnu-prosvitnitsku-diyalnist-i-zhinochi-muzei-134933.html