Union for Women's Equality

All-Russian Union for Women's Equality (Russian: Всероссийский союз равноправия женщин) was a liberal feminist organisation formed in the Russian Empire during the Russian Revolution of 1905. The Union demanded equal political, particularly voting, rights to women. The Union had main centers in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and a number of local chapters in various cities of the Empire. At its peak in 1906, the Union had 8,000 members and 78 branches in 65 cities. The Union published monthly magazine Women's Union (Союз женщин) in 1907–09. The Union disintegrated soon after the end of the revolution. Despite lack of tangible feminist achievements, the Union succeeded in raising awareness and political consciousness of many women in the Russian Empire.

The Union was formed by 30 liberal women a month after the Bloody Sunday (22 January 1905). The founding members included Zinaida Mirovich, Anna Kalmanovich, Liubov Gurevich, Maria A. Chekhova. They felt that liberal organizations, like the Union of Liberation, were indifferent about women's rights.

On 10 April, the Union called the first meeting for women in Moscow. About 1,000 attendees laid the groundwork for the first congress of the Union on 7–10 May. The congress, chaired by Anna Miliukova, was attended by some 300 official delegates, including 70 delegates sent from 26 local chapters, who adopted a far-reaching program that underscored that liberation of women was inseparable from liberation of the society as a whole. The Union did not focus solely on women's issues and joined the wider liberal movement, consciously using the term "women's liberation" and not "feminist". The program demanded a constituent assembly elected by equal, direct, secret, and universal voting without regard to sex, nationality or religion, national autonomy, and abolition of the death penalty in addition to more women-oriented demands of equality before law, equal rights in any land reform, law protection and welfare guarantees for women workers, and co-education at every level. The issue of national autonomy was divisive: the Russian women were surprised by the importance of the autonomy for Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian, Jewish, and Belarusian women. The next congress was held on 8–12 October 1905. The third congress was held on 21–24 May 1906.

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