Bulgarian Feminist movement
The Bulgarian Women’s Union was a women’s rights organisation active in Bulgaria from 1901 to 1944. In 1901, the organisation was founded by Vela Blagoeva, Ekaterina Karavelova, Anna Karima, Kina Konova, Julia Malinova, and Zheni Pateva. The organization was an umbrella organization of the 27 local women’s organisations that had been established in Bulgaria since 1878. It was founded as a reply to the limitations of women’s education and access to university studies in the 1890s.
Anna Karima (1871-1949) was a writer, translator, editor and journalist, suffragist and women’s rights activist. In 1897 she founded the Women’s Educational Association called “Conscious” through which Anna, with her constant letters to the government, managed to convince them to allow women to study in university in 1901. Anna became the first Chairwoman of the Bulgarian Women’s Union and organized the first congress of feminist organizations. Throughout her life she’s constantly engaged in translating and writing own materials, all of them focused on feminine topics – from education of children, to opposing arranged marriages, to expressing freely one’s emotions – her works challenge the traditional understandings at the time, combat stereotypes and influence the attitudes of women.