Vlasova V. The role of women in the socio-political life of Ukraine (1917-1939)

The dissertation reveals the features of women's participation in the liberation movement of 1917-1939. The study revealed that the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921 became one of the catalysts for the activation of women's participation in state-building processes. The contribution of women to the political, cultural, and military spheres was demonstrated. The emigration stage of life of women who found themselves abroad after the defeat of the revolution was analyzed. It traced how exactly the fate of women under the Bolshevik occupation developed, what practices women used in captivity to preserve their national identity. The work is based on the idea that women became part of the social processes of the first half of the 20th century and overcome prejudices. The impact on the historiographical base of national and world trends in the field of gender-oriented historical research was traced. The analysis of memoirs made it possible to see how women understood their roles in state-building, what views they had on the future of the Ukrainian state. The work on which women concentrated while working in the Ukrainian Central Rada, the General Secretariat, Hetmanate, and the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic was analyzed. It was established that some women from the beginning of the Ukrainian-Soviet War participated in hostilities, in the roles of soldiers and medics, underground workers, intelligence, and liaison. The activities of women who left the territory of post-Soviet Ukraine and operated abroad were researched. The issue of negative trends in the women's role of in political life after the Soviet occupation's territory of Ukraine was raised. The study proves that women were part of the liberation processes of the interwar period, in roles that were partially unavailable to them until then. The dissertation has research prospects in the form of studying the methods, practices, and extent of women's resistance to the Soviet repressive system.