Khertek Anchimaa-Toka

Khertek Anchimaa-Toka was a Tuvan politician who chaired the Little Khural of the Tuvan People’s Republic from 1940 to 1944. She is widely described as the first woman to head a state’s legislature.

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Tuvan People's Republic: A state in southern Siberia that existed from 1921 until its incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1944. Anchimaa-Toka held senior office in this republic before its incorporation into the Soviet Union.
Salchak Toka: A Tuvan communist politician who led the Tuvan People's Republic for much of its existence. He was Anchimaa-Toka’s husband and the republic’s dominant political leader.
Little Khural: The representative legislature of the Tuvan People's Republic. Anchimaa-Toka chaired this body, the office at the center of her public distinction.
Women in politics: The participation and representation of women in political institutions and public leadership. Her chairmanship became a prominent early example of a woman leading a legislature.
Tannu Tuva: The name commonly used for the independent Tuvan state established in 1921. This name identifies the republic during the period of Anchimaa-Toka’s political career.
Mongush Nimachi: A Tuvan politician who served as head of government in the Tuvan People's Republic. His leadership provides a point of comparison within the republic’s political hierarchy.
Great Khural: The supreme representative assembly of the Tuvan People's Republic. It was the broader assembly from which the Little Khural’s institutional role derived.
Women's suffrage: The legal and political movement to secure women’s right to vote. Her career belonged to a wider history of women entering formal political life.
Tuvan Revolution of 1921: The political upheaval that established the Tuvan People's Republic in 1921. Its new institutions created the political system in which Anchimaa-Toka advanced.
Vladimir Lenin: A Russian revolutionary who led the Bolsheviks and founded the Soviet state. Leninist political ideas influenced the party system in which Anchimaa-Toka worked.