Gender barriers of the late 19th – early 20th century and strategies of women’s professional self-realization: the case of the Gordeev family

Abstract

In the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, Ukrainian society underwent profound modernization changes affecting education, science, medicine, and professional activity in general. However, women’s access to education and social engagement remained limited by both formal institutional frameworks and patriarchal stereotypes that defined the traditional role of women as keepers of the domestic hearth. The purpose of this article is to analyze the socio-historical context of modernization processes influencing women’s opportunities for self-realization and to identify specific strategies of professional and educational advancement through the example of Yelyzaveta Dmytrivna Hordieieva (Chyrikova) and her daughter Khrystyna. The research methodology integrates general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, and systematization) with specialized historical approaches, while adhering to the scientific principles of objectivity, systematics, and historicism. Using socio-historical and biographical approaches allowed linking the macro-level social transformations with individual women’s life stories. The study's scientific novelty lies in examining how women from the Hordieiev family created alternative paths for self-realization, combining maternal and professional roles. The article reveals the specifics of gender barriers in the 19th and early 20th centuries that restricted women’s access to knowledge and public recognition. It demonstrates practical ways to overcome them through private schools, Sunday educational institutions, and participation in cultural and educational initiatives. The findings show that the formation of new models of women’s professional identity in the context of modernization occurred through active engagement with academic and professional opportunities, combining traditional roles with new social functions, and building collective and family strategies of self-emancipation. The experience of the Hordieiev family demonstrates that women’s strategy for self-realization not only responded to the challenges of the era but also actively transformed societal perceptions of women’s roles, contributing to the spread of education and the development of the cultural environment at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries.