Riga to unveil memorial plaque to Berta Pīpiņa, honoring interwar women's contribution
On September 28, Riga will unveil a memorial plaque at Ģertrūdes iela 69 to Berta Pīpiņa, the only woman in the interwar Latvian Saeima. The occasion highlights the work of the Latvian Women's National League, whose members helped build the foundations of state welfare.
On September 28, 2026, marking Berta Pīpiņa's 143rd birthday, a memorial plaque will be unveiled at the building at Ģertrūdes iela 69 in Riga. Pīpiņa was the only woman to serve in the Latvian Saeima during the interwar period.
The initiative for the plaque began when a Riga resident submitted a proposal to the municipality to honor Pīpiņa's memory in the cityscape. As a result, in 2025 the Riga City Council named a street segment between Eksporta iela and Citadeles iela after Berta Pīpiņa.
Women's work before state institutions existed
The author of a study on women's social and political participation in Latvia between 1920 and 1934 notes that many services the state provides today — children's healthcare, home visits, legal aid, vocational education, and the fight against alcohol abuse — began a century ago as voluntary initiatives by enterprising women.
The Latvian Women's National League, of which Pīpiņa was a member, is described as one of the most influential civil society forces in interwar Latvia. Where state administration lacked funds, experience, or initiative, the league's members created practical solutions and later sought to enshrine them in law and institutions.
In 1922, for instance, several women in Riga pooled money to make ethnographic gloves, a venture that grew into a system of workshops and a vocational school, fulfilling orders for state representation needs and providing income for dozens of women. Other members treated children, made home visits to new mothers, offered free legal consultations, educated the public, and followed the work of the Saeima.
Voting rights, but not yet full equality
Latvian women first fully participated in parliamentary elections in 1920, electing the Constitutional Assembly. Six women were elected: Aspazija, Valērija Seile, Berta Vesmane, Apolonija Laurinoviča, Klāra Kalniņa, and Zelma Cēsniece-Freidenfelde, who worked alongside 144 men in drafting the country's founding law.
