National Council of Ukrainian Women

National Council of Ukrainian Women (Національна рада українських жінок; Natsionalna rada ukrainskykh zhinok; also Українська жіноча національна рада; Ukrainska zhinocha natsionalna rada). A women’s organization established in Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1919 to provide a focal point for Ukrainian women’s groups in various parts of Europe and to inform international women’s bodies about Ukraine’s struggle for independence. It was admitted to the International Council of Women at that council’s congress in Oslo in 1920, but as a representative of a stateless nation it lost its membership eight years later. Branches of the council were organized in Berlin, Bern, Vienna, Rome, Paris, and Prague, the location of its head office from 1924. The council participated in conferences of a number of international women’s organizations and submitted memorandums to them on issues such as the Pacification in Western Ukraine. The first executive of the council consisted of Sofiia Rusova as president, Mariia Hrushevska, Konstantyna Malytska, Zinaida Mirna, and Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska as vice-presidents, and Hanna Chykalenko-Keller and Nadiia Surovtsova as secretaries. B. Baran, Kharytia Kononenko, Olena Lototska, N. Makarenko, and Milena Rudnytska were among the most active members. In 1938 the council's executive resolved to dissolve the organization.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]