«Women’s Issue» in the Ukrainian Social and Political Movement in the late XIX – early XX centuries (Case of Lesya Ukrainka’s Epistles)

The article explores aspects of the «women's issue» in the Dnieper and Western Ukraine in the late XIX – early XX centuries. It is about a complex of social problems related to the inequality of women in society, the state, the family, as well as discussions on ways and means of ensuring the actual equality of women in education, profession, work, socio-political and other activities. The originality of the author's approach is in the widespread involvement of Lesya Ukrainka' texts in the study of little-used documents of personal origin, in particular the epistolary heritage. It is argued that an array of the poetess' letters is an important source for fact-finding, understanding of the realities, immersion in the atmosphere of everyday life, and exploration of domestic practices in the struggle for women's rights in Ukraine in the context of the development of the Ukrainian national movement. Particular attention has been paid to the ideological discussions surrounding Lesya Ukrainka's «women's issue» and «personal history» reflected in her letters. It is proved that her epistolary texts deepens the understanding of the poetess as an active public figure and a prominent representative of the new generation of Ukrainian intelligentsia, who made an attempt to destroy the patriarchal attitude towards women by including the «women's issue» in the broad context of the formation of a modern Ukrainian nation. It is found out that the Ukrainian feminist idea of the late XIX – early XX centuries was forming largely on a national basis. The Ukrainian intellectual tradition assimilated Western European feminism, embracing not only the idea of the struggle for gender equality, but also determined the original socio-cultural mechanisms that contributed to the humanization of society.