Valeriia Levandovska-Bilokonska (1856-1910) was a revolutionary activist, an active member of Kharkiv educational organisations in her adult years, and the head of the Kharkiv Society for the Mutual Assistance of Working Women, whose activities were dedicated to women's struggle for their rights.
In her youth, Valeriia Bilokonska participated in underground organisations in Mykolaiv and Odesa, for which she was imprisoned and sent into exile. Despite all the obstacles, she did not stop working and conducted educational work.
From the beginning of her residence in Kharkiv, Valeriia Bilokonska became a member of the Literacy Society, creating a reference and pedagogical committee. Its purpose was to provide background information on educational institutions and organisations' functioning and to exchange information between them. Understanding the need to disseminate information about educational institutions and their activities, opportunities to use them, and new educational literature became the basis for Valeriia's work.
Valeriia's primary occupation was working for another organisation, the Society for Mutual Assistance for Working Women, where she initially took care of the affairs of the bureau that dealt with job search issues for women. The bureau collected information from employers and provided it to women looking for work, i.e., performed an intermediary function. This was a significant initiative for a large city that attracted migrant workers.
In 1907-1910, Valeriia Bilokonska headed the Society. At that time, the building was constructed, a camp for children's summer holidays was organised, and courses for women were held to improve their skills, which were the result of an analysis of employers' requests, etc.
Analysing Valeriia Bilokonska activities, it should be noted that she focused on several areas: dissemination of information, education, and assistance in finding employment for women. Valeriia Bilokonska activities demonstrate that she understood the ‘women's issue’ as a problem of women's lack of competitiveness, which could be solved by providing them with decent education, employment assistance, and social assistance.
The translation from Ukrainian was created with the help of DeepL.
