Women's Activities in the Supreme Council of Lithuania in the Implementation of Values in Public Policy
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Abstract
The input of the female members of the Supreme Council – Restoration Seimas of the
Republic of Lithuania into developing a new independent society through the laws adopted by the
Supreme Council showing the platforms of women’s organisations and movements created during
the election campaign has not been studied. The election campaigns of the Reform Movement of
Lithuania and the Communist Party of Lithuania as well as other restored and established parties have
been broadly analysed; however, that context does not include female candidates supported or not
supported by the Reform Movement to be elected to the Supreme Council of the LSSR. Based on
archival sources and contemporary press, the article reveals the election battle and the election
platforms created by the women's organisations and movements that existed at that time. Moreover,
the article includes an analysis of the activities of 14 women elected to the 12th call LSSR Supreme
Council – the Supreme Council of Lithuania. It is important to note the main focus was on new laws
related to family, women and children. There were no laws related to protecting women in the labour
market; on the contrary, there were laws related to pushing women back to family life. This was a
random event because the programmes of the Reform Movement, its support groups such as Saulėtekis (English: Sunrise), Mothers and Women’s Movements emphasised the family support
issue; however, in order to solve it, they proposed only one way, i.e., to push back t women into
family life, disregarding research conducted into this issue by the Department of Statistics and other
scholars. This was an example of bulldozer politics in Lithuania that has had long-term negative
effects on Lithuanian society and especially women. The aim of the article is to reveal the input of
the female members into developing a new independent society through the laws adopted by the
Supreme Council, showing the platforms of women’s organisations and movements created during
the election campaign. The methods used in the study include comparative analysis of scientific
literature, document analysis, analysis and synthesis of primary documents (i.e., archive documents),
secondary documents (i.e., contemporary press)and qualitative research (interviews).
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