Cadet Ladies

Women of the Constitutional Democratic Party as a Political Phenomenon

Abstract

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of women in the Constitutional Democratic Party from its very foundation up to the preparation of the organization for the elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1917. The author seeks to reconstruct a socio-cultural portrait of “cadet ladies”, to find out the factors that could have influenced their entry into the party and to characterize their activities in the organization. Special attention is paid to the position in the party hierarchy that women could occupy, as well as to the opportunities for advancement in it. Cadet ladies were mainly responsible for maintaining the organizationʹs welfare, housekeeping, logistics, events and charitable institutions, but at the same time were actively involved in key decision-making, although they did not have the same political rights as men. Moreover, women gained the right to vote after the February Revolution, the number of Cadet ladies in key party positions increased dramatically, which confirms their importance to constitutional democrats. Characteristic features of the socio-cultural portrait of the women of the Peopleʹs Freedom Party are also highlighted. Cadet ladies grew up in post-reform Russia, when social and economic changes in the country and society had a huge impact on the process of womenʹs emancipation. The opportunity to receive a quality education, acquire a profession and work, to choose a spouse out of mutual respect and similarity of views — all these served as factors for acquiring the subjectivity that later allowed the cadet ladies to become the political phenomenon discussed in this article.