Nataliya Kobrynska (8 June 1851[1] – 22 January 1920) was a Ukrainian writer, socialist feminist,[2] and activist from Austria-Hungary.[3]
The daughter of Reverend Ivan Ozarkevych, a priest who was later elected to the Austrian Parliament, and Teofilia Okunevska, she was born Nataliya Ozarkevych in the village of Beleluia in the Galicia province of Austria-Hungary. At that time, women were not allowed to pursue education beyond the elementary level and so she was mainly educated at home. She studied several languages: German, French, Polish and Russian and read literature from various counties. In 1871, she married Theofil Kobrynsky. He died a few years later and she was forced to return to Bolekhiv to live with her parents.[3]
Kobrynska went to Vienna with her father, where she met Ivan Franko; Franko encouraged her to take on the task of improving the status of Ukrainian women and to encourage them to seek equality with men.[4] In 1884, she organized the Tovarystvo Ruskykh Zhinok (Association of Ruthenian Women)[3] to educate women by exposing them to literature and by promoting discussions on women's rights. In 1890, she was part of a delegation that lobbied the Minister of Education to allow women to attend university. She also advocated universal suffrage, day care and communal kitchens.[4]
She wrote her first short story "Shuminska" (later known as The Spirit of the Times, in 1883; the following year, she wrote a novella Zadlia kusnyka khliba (For a Piece of Bread).[5] In 1887, with Olena Pchilka, she edited Pershyi vinok (The First Garland), a collection of writing by Ukrainian women.[4] Kobrynska's publishing house Zhinocha Sprava (Women’s Cause)[5] produced three issues of a women's almanac called Nasha dolya (Our Fate), which included works by Ukrainian writer Anna Pavlyk.[4]
