In this rubric about Women's Month, we will introduce you to the women from the exhibition which was created within the framework of the USAID Unity Through Diversity Program and was dedicated to the important role of ethnic and religious minorities in the economic, social, and political processes of Georgia.

Elisabed (Liza) Nakashidze-Bolkvadze was a politician and member of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia. Born in the village of Sakhmtvo (Zemo Natanebi), Ozurgeti. She received her education in the 3rd women’s gymnasium of Tbilisi. She joined the Georgian social-democratic party at the age of 19. In 1905 she was chairing women’s social-democratic organizations in Guria. She was actively involved in the peasant movement of Guria – the “Republic of Guria”. In 1907 she was arrested for participating in the revolutionary movement. For years she was banned from living in the Caucasus. In February 1917, after the revolution, she returned to Georgia and got reelected as a chairwoman of the women’s organization of Georgia. In 1919 she was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia from the social-democratic party list. In 1921, after the Soviet occupation of Georgia, she remained in the country and became one of the leaders of anti-Soviet resistance. Elisabed has been arrested and relocated by the Soviet regime many times. In 1926 she was leading the illegal social-democratic party. On the 22nd of February, 1937, Elisabed Bolkvadze was sentenced to death and shot in Minuskin, Krasnodar. She was accused of being a member of the counterrevolutionary center. There is a street named after Elisabed in Tbilisi.

Source: Sovlab – Members of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia

Photo: Sovlab

USAID Unity Through Diversity Program is implemented by UNA-Georgia with financial support of the United States Agency for International development (USAID).