“Let there be no more such prejudices!” the president and prime minister called on voters to treat men and women candidates for the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania – the first parliament of the independent state – equally. The 1920 election was the first in which women could vote and be elected to parliament.
In 1920-1940, a total of 11 women served in the Lithuanian parliaments, five of whom – Emilija Spudaitė-Gvildienė, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Magdelena Draugelytė-Galdikienė, Ona Muraškaitė-Račiukaitienė, and Salomėja Stakauskaitė – were elected to the 150-seat Constituent Assembly.
Later, as the political situation changed, Felicija Bortkevičienė, Morta Lukošytė, and Veronika Mackevičiūtė also joined the first parliament of independent Lithuania.
Thirty women and more than 800 men stood as parliamentary candidates in 1920. Although there were far fewer women in the parliament, their voice was clearly heard, according to Artūras Svarauskas, a historian at the Lithuanian Institute of History
Democratic values
According to Svarauskas, in the 1920s, Lithuania was modernising, and by giving women the right to vote, it was trying to join the family of democratic countries.
“When Lithuanian independence was restored [in 1918], the key was to be recognised by the world because there were various opinions floating around at the time – that Lithuania was a part of Poland and so on,” the historian said. “This new state felt that it had to respond to the world trends of the time.”
And the global trends at that time revolved around democratisation and citizens’ rights, which meant equal rights for men and women. The equality of all citizens, irrespective of their sex, was enshrined in all three provisional Lithuanian Constitutions adopted in 1918, 1919, and 1920.
“[The Constitutions’] first sentences were that all are equal regardless of sex, followed by nationality, class, and religion. This means that all three provisional Constitutions guarantee that, at least in theory, everyone’s rights were equal,” Svarauskas said.
At the time, there was an active women’s movement in Lithuania, which worked with international organisations. Equality issues were always raised at Lithuanian women’s congresses. However, some found reasons not to support gender equality in politics
“At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a strong religious sentiment. Women, like men, were very religious. The Christian Democrats had a strong interest in women voting, in the whole of society voting,” Svarauskas said.
“However, the left-wing parties, especially the Social Democrats, were quite sceptical about giving women political rights. They argued that women are religious, they listen to priests, and priests are supporters of the Christian Democrats,” he added.
Even those parties that supported women’s participation in politics were reluctant to put them at the top of their electoral lists. Only the Socialist People’s Democratic Party put a woman, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, at the top of the list in one constituency.
A part of the population also disapproved of women’s participation in politics. During the Constituent Assembly elections, the president and the prime minister had to send out a message urging voters to respect gender equality and to do their civic duty when voting.
“For the first time in Lithuania, women have gained equal political rights with men. This will seem to be an unusual thing to many, that a woman has been put on an equal footing with a man,” the message read.
“Let there be no more such prejudices! Men and women are inspired by the same spirit of God, and it is, therefore, their right and their duty to take care of the fate of their homeland equally,” it added.
According to Svarauskas, the public mood was influenced by the fact that Lithuania was an agrarian country at that time, where, among other things, women’s duties were seen as managing the household, giving birth, and raising children.
“For peasants, who made up about 80 percent of society, it was strange and unusual. […] It was unusual for them that a woman would promise to run the country,” the historian said.
Global sensation
The first sitting of the parliament was chaired by its oldest member. The oldest MP at the time was Simonas Rozenbaumas, but he did not attend the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly.
In his absence, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė became the oldest MP and chaired the meeting. Meanwhile, the youngest member, a 24-year-old Ona Muraškaitė-Račiukaitienė, was entrusted with the office of the Secretary of the parliament. This meant that the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly was chaired exclusively by women.
Opening the Constituent Assembly, Petkevičaitė-Bitė said: “I am happy that fate has given me the great honour of opening the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly of our independent homeland.”
“I am happy to do so as an old fighter for the independence of my people, as a woman who has obtained the equality of rights so ardently desired, as a member of my society who has not stopped fighting against every subjugation, whether of nations, classes, or capital.”
According to historian Svarauskas, a member of the Constituent Assembly and later president of Lithuania Kazys Grinius wrote in his memoirs that the opening of the first parliament was a global sensation.
“Maybe 10 or more journalists came. Many people didn’t know what Lithuania was. And now, it appeared on the map, immediately organised democratic elections, and two women opened the parliament. It was a sensation,” Svarauskas said.
On May 15, 1920, when the Constituent Assembly met, the structure of the Lithuanian state was established – it was a democratic republic, with the parliament being the most important political institution and the speaker of the parliament being the head of state. There was no president at the time, and later, he had only symbolic functions.
“Imagine that – the speaker of the Constituent Assembly was a woman. She was number one in the state, albeit symbolically. For one day – May 15 – Lithuania was led by women, they had the supreme power,” Svarauskas said.
Moreover, Magdalena Draugelytė-Galdikienė became the deputy speaker of the Second Constituent Assembly in 1926.
Important reforms
According to Svarauskas, women were treated with respect in the Constituent Assembly, and their voices and proposals were heard.
“Women were concerned about education, culture, social security, and health. They were concerned about alcohol use and, of course, women’s rights. These were the most important issues around which their work revolved,” the historian explained.
It is impossible to say exactly how much was done by the members of the Constituent Assembly because there is no surviving archive. However, the activities of the parliament can be better understood from the press fragments.
“Women’s voices were heard, especially during the discussion of the draft Constitution of 1922,” Svarauskas said.
“When the Constitution was being debated, women raised the idea that it should include the abolition of prostitution in Lithuania, and that it should emphasise the need to protect decency. But in the end, it was decided that this was not a constitutional issue,” he added.
Some women MPs also proposed that women, like men, should be subject to military conscription. But the male majority decided that “women have no place in war”, according to the historian.
The women of the Constituent assembly also tackled the problem of alcoholism in Lithuania, proposing to ban or restrict the sale of alcoholic beverages. However, this proposal was also rejected.
But not all initiatives by women in the first parliament were unsuccessful. Importantly, they were concerned about health care and making sure that working people were not left in the lurch in the event of illness or injury.
“During the interwar period, Lithuania began to modernise, and little by little people moved from villages to cities, where they worked in companies and factories. Women started working as well. But for a long time, there was no law on worker’s injury or illness,” Svarauskas said.
“The law on sickness insurance was adopted so that people would have the right to treatment, to health care. These issues were also raised by women,” the historian added.
Read more: Key woman in Lithuania’s history – the story of Žemaitė
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