Introduction: Women’s Agency. Multiplying stories and subjects
Introduction: Women’s Agency. Multiplying stories and subjects

Summary/Abstract: The idea behind this special issue is the relative invisibility of women’s contributions to Latvian society and culture through the ages. One of the reasons why so little is known about women writers, translators, publishers, artists, scientists, politicians, social workers and others is that historiography relies on existing biographical and documentary research, most of which contains little information on women. It is also a result of historical circumstances as, out of all the socially created divides, the gender divide is one of the most resistant to change. Bringing into focus diverse ways in which women of a multi-national society, various social classes and education have asserted agency and contributed to the development of culture and society in Latvia lay at the core of this fundamental research project of the Latvian Council of Science: Female Agency in Latvian Culture and Society (1870–1940) (No. lzp-2020/1-0215) which is being carried out by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of University of Latvia. The project’s time frame was established by marking 1870 as the starting point when the position of women in the Latvian social and cultural sphere gained attention with two critical events: the self-educated woman activist Karolīne Kronvalde opened a debate in Latvian periodicals, defending women’s right to education and freedom, and the first Latvian female playwright Marija Pēkšēna’s play Ģertrūde won a playwriting competition; while at the other end of the timeframe the occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Army in 1940 is seen as the turning point that transformed not only the political environment, but also affected the position of women in society

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