On 17 October 1919, the provisional government issued the “Provisional Regulations on the Councils of Evangelical Lutheran Congregations”, which required congregation councils to be convened and elected as quickly as possible; together with the church boards, these councils were to direct the life of the congregations, and active and passive voting rights were also granted to women. The first woman chairperson of an Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia congregation was Minna Šelme in the Ezere congregation
Sources:
1) Priede Ž. University of Latvia Faculty of Theology bachelor’s thesis “Women’s Ordination in Latvia in the Time of Archbishop Jānis Matulis”, Riga, 2007
2) Dr. phil. Tēraudkalns V. “The Path to the Ordination of Lutheran Women in Latvia”, University of Latvia Faculty of Theology publication “Ceļš” No. 57