«To collect more ladies' votes»: Noble women's participation in the gentry's elections of the first half of the nineteenth century (Ryazan region case)

The article discusses the role of women in the Russian noble elections of the 19th century, particularly after the 1831 electoral law that allowed noblewomen with more than 100 serfs to transfer their voting rights to male relatives or other male representatives. This law confirmed the rights granted by Catherine II’s 1766 manifesto, which had been based on property ownership, though it limited women’s direct political participation. The piece outlines how political figures exploited these rights by gaining blank ballots from noblewomen, particularly older unmarried women or widows, and using them to influence elections. Despite this, women rarely took an active role in the process, and their involvement was often seen as symbolic rather than impactful. The paper argues that this phenomenon, which granted women one of the basic civil rights, did not receive much scholarly attention, likely because the votes of noblewomen were rarely used directly, rendering their involvement less significant. The study examines archival materials, primarily from the Ryazan province, to explore how women exercised their rights and the impact of the 1831 law.