Women in the ranks of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union

The largest interwar public organization, the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union (hereinafter referred to as the LRU), brought together men and women in its ranks. According to the union's statutes, women could become riflemen with equal rights with men from the day the organization was founded in 1919, but at that time the absolute majority of the organization's members were men, and only individual women joined the organization.

The acceptance of women into the organization was determined by the favorable attitude of its leader Vladas Putvinskis that the LRU is a medium for both men and women. His wife Emilija, daughters Ona, Sofija and Emilija, and the wives of other founders of the union, Tadas Ivanauskas and Antanas Zmuidzinavičius, Honorata and Marija, became some of the first shooters. Despite the favorable attitudes of the leadership, the number of women in the LRU during the interwar period was extremely small, and their activities were fragmented and sparse, usually limited to charity, collecting donations, helping the army, and caring for children.

Only in 1927 did women in Kaunas manage to form the first female rifle squad, and after the women's rifle congress in 1933, their more organized activities began. At the congress, women were encouraged to take on more active activities, and attempts were made to convince them that women were not inferior to men. In the 1930s, the riflewomen were engaged in organizing entertainment evenings, collecting donations, caring for the graves of soldiers who died in the War of Independence, organizing various lectures and courses, and working in libraries and riflemen's houses. During the interwar period, women made up about 12% of the organization's members.