The project to prepare the edited volume Women’s Stories of Leadership in Ukraine: Late 19th – Early 20th Century was the result of a sustained collaboration between scholars and civic leaders aimed at illuminating the role of women in Ukrainian history.
1. The Idea and the First Stage (2021)
The project originated in the spring of 2021 on the initiative of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress (UWC, https://womenua.today/) in partnership with the Ukrainian Association for Research in Women’s History (UARWH) and was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence. (тут буде Лінк на опис проекту на сайті УАДЖІ)
- Initial concept: over the course of three months, nine women researchers and one male researcher studied the biographies and activities of 10 remarkable women from various regions of Ukraine whose lives and work spanned the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Format: the research materials formed the basis of a multimedia project that revealed the life paths and civic engagement of local women leaders of various ethnic backgrounds who worked in the interests of women in their communities, presented in a format accessible to a wide audience.
- Phase outcome: a dedicated project website, Women’s Stories of Leadership (https://history.womenua.today/), was created, hosting videos and biographical materials about the project’s heroines for public access and use in educational and outreach activities.
- Partners: financial support for the project was provided by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Government of Canada.
2. Transformation into a book and war-time challenges (2022–2024)
The idea of publishing these unique scholarly studies as an academic monograph arose in the fall of 2021, and work on the texts began in winter 2022. However, Russia’s full-scale invasion halted these plans.
- A new impetus: in August 2024, during a forum marking the 140th anniversary of the Ukrainian women’s movement in Kyiv, a meeting between academic editor Oksana Kis and UWC Chair Svitlana Voitsekhovska gave the project a second wind.
- Funding: given the difficulty of finding donors during the war, three co-founders of UWC (Olena Kondratiuk, Mariia Ionova, and Svitlana Voitsekhovska) decided to fund the scholarly component with their own resources. The publication of the book was supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation Ukraine.
3. Research and Content
Over the course of three months, new researchers joined the project, and the number of featured women leaders expanded from 10 to 15.
- Methodology: the authors worked with archives, diaries, and letters, searching for informative sources in domestic and foreign collections; some materials were located outside Ukraine or in occupied territories.
- Structure of the monograph: the book consists of five sections devoted to different spheres of the historical figures’ civic engagement (education, labor and entrepreneurship, healthcare, social welfare, political participation), each containing three biographical studies.
- Design: the cover features a work by Ukrainian avant-garde artist Oleksandra Ekster, “Light Maquette,” the reproduction rights for which were provided free of charge by the San Antonio Museum of Art (USA).
4. Book Launch (October 2025)
On October 23, 2025, the edited volume was formally presented in Kyiv during the ninth Ukrainian Women’s Congress. The video of the book launch (excerpt from the Congress) is available on the UWC YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9K9e99-k80).
- Presenters: the book was presented by project patron Svitlana Voitsekhovska, monograph co-author Olha Nikolaienko, and academic editor Oksana Kis (online).
- Distribution: UWC provided free copies of the book to academic libraries, as well as to women’s civil society organizations and women’s movement activists.
Learn more about the book’s content
5. Scholarly Reflection and Outreach: The Discussion “Where Do We Find Women’s History?” (December 2025)
Following the official launch, the project continued with expert discussions aimed at promoting the book and sharing research experiences.
- Online discussion: on December 8, 2025, with the support of the Ukrainian Women’s Congress, an online discussion was held around the new monograph. The event was moderated by the volume’s academic editor, Oksana Kis. Opening remarks were delivered by project patron Svitlana Voitsekhovska.
- Methodological focus: the central theme of the discussion was the “inner workings” of historical research. Co-authors Nataliia Malynovska, Nataliia Blokhina, Olha Nikolaienko, and Liliia Tsyhanenko shared their experiences of reconstructing the biographies of past women leaders and the challenges they encountered.
- Key questions: participants discussed the challenges historians face when analyzing the personalities and worldviews of these women through the lens of various sources—specifically, which documents can be trusted, how to cope with the inaccessibility of some sources under wartime conditions, and the unexpected discoveries made during the preparation of the volume.
6. Open Access: Publication of the E-Book Online
E-book: the full text of the monograph is available for viewing and download on the website of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Ukraine.
Print run: the 500-copy print run was quickly exhausted, but interest in the work remained high. In January 2026, by mutual agreement of UWC, UARWH, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the decision was made to publish the book online to ensure broad access to the research findings.