The women who lived in Vilnius and did a lot are forgotten, but their lives and exploits are surprisingly interesting. If Bona Sforca or Klara Rokomor lived today, they would have many followers on social networks, says guide Elena Gasiulytė. Educator Rūta Norkūnė states that it is necessary to encourage curiosity and the desire to be interested in women's history - it is important that children already understand why it is worth reading not only about Žygimantas Augustas, but also about his mother Bona Sforca.
Historical women of Vilnius would now be Facebook and Instagram stars
We want to show that women are equal participants in history, so knowledge about them can be spread even by leading a tour, says Elena Gasiulytė, guide of the "Kingdom of Ideas" Public Enterprise. She singles out Bona Sforza as her favorite historical female figure, about whom she also talks on the tour: "She was a fantastic woman. The prevailing stereotype is different - that Bona was bad, poisoned Barbora. Bona is called a witch, a witch, a snake, but in fact in the XNUMXth century. In LDK politics, she is one of the most accomplished persons - far from only among women."
As the guide tells us, one cannot talk about the history of Lithuania without mentioning Bona Sforza. "Unfortunately, you won't find much about this woman in school history textbooks. However, if you look deeper into the activities of Žygimantas Senoj and the implemented reforms, you can see a lot of Bona's influence. Thus, the authorship of reforms and ideas can be debated. Maybe these were Bona's ideas, carried out through her husband and son, because she had no other choice," says E. Gasiulytė.
According to E. Gasiulytė, Bona Sforca is also interesting in a cultural sense: "It was Bona that brought new food products, local dances, the first dresses with necklines, make-up, cosmetics to Lithuania from Italy. If she were alive today, she would have a large following on Facebook, and her Instagram profile would include not only political meetings, but also fashion photos."
E. Gasiulytė mentions Klara Rokomor as the biggest discovery while preparing the excursion. Klara, a Jew, was born in Vilnius, later moved to JAV. This woman played the world's first electronic musical instrument, the theremin, and contributed to its creation. In the US, Klara was very famous, called the diva of the theremin," says the interviewer.
According to the guide and educator Rūta Norkūnė, when talking about the women of Vilnius, it is impossible not to mention famous writers: "Some people stereotypically underestimate Žemaitė, so I am glad that after hearing about her on an excursion, they start looking at this personality differently. After all, Žemaitė was definitely not just a woman with a scarf, who wrote about the difficult village life, as is often mistakenly imagined. She actively participated in social activities, smoked papyrus freely and had interesting love adventures."
R. Norkūnė is convinced that, in order to spread the word about the historical women of Vilnius, it is necessary to talk not only about the education system. "It would not be enough to change a few chapters in one or another textbook, inserting more information into them. It is very important to stimulate curiosity, to purposefully activate the desire to search for information, to understand why it is important to read not only about Žygimantas Augustas, but also about his mother Bona Sforca, already in childhood", says the interviewer.
E. Gasiulytė asserts that, although there is currently a greater influence of women in public life, it is still not sufficient: "It is great that our president is a woman, but this is not the only criterion. We will be able to talk about a better situation when we at least have a different ratio of the number of men and women in the Parliament."
The vision of the future spurred the woman to action
When asked what motivated the historical women of Vilnius to undertake various activities, R. Norkūnė says that it could have been a vision of a better future. "It was not easy for women to overcome stereotypes and environmental resistance in many cases. I think they were driven by the realization that someone would be better off later because of their work. The exploits of the historical women of Vilnius were not selfish. Some of them are out of a need for self-expression," says the educator.
According to E. Gasiulytė, XNUMXth–XNUMXth centuries. the women of the junction were encouraged by a patriotic desire to work for the country: "Professor Virginija Jurėnienė, who studied the women's movement of that time, whose work we relied on when organizing the excursion, emphasizes that both men and women wanted Lithuania to be as advanced as possible, as good as possible to live in. The activity of women of that period is distinguished by their work for the benefit of the recovering Lithuania, whatever it may be - in politics, art or another field."
Speaking about Lithuania's centenary and the fact that there was not a single woman among the signatories of February 16, E. Gasiulytė says that it is not necessary to be sad about it. "We can be happy that already on February 17, there was a huge women's protest against the fact that none of them were invited to the Council of Lithuania. Women said that they also want to participate in the life of the state. I love that February 17th has been celebrated as National Emancipation Day for several years now. This idea has the spirit of rebellion," the guide claims.
E. Gasiulytė claims that she believes that the historical women of Vilnius have not received enough attention: "This is also because history was written by men. Now the interest in women's history is increasing, because women themselves have the opportunity to express themselves more in various areas of life. The more women in them, the more visible women's stories become. More women than men come to our excursion about women, but this is not only due to the topic, but also to the fact that they generally visit cultural events more often."
R. Norkūnė says that she would like to invite more men to the excursion about Vilnius women. "When it comes to women, we break down a lot of stereotypes. However, there is no need to imagine that this excursion is only for them. In addition, in this, as in our other excursions, participants not only listen to the guide's story, but can also smell, touch, even taste something. This is how people discover the joy of knowledge by engaging in interactive experiential activities," the interviewer assures.
