Maria Dulębianka (21 October 1861 – 7 March 1919) was a Polish artist and activist, notable for promoting women’s suffrage and higher education.

[1] In 1889, she met Maria Konopnicka, a mother of eight children and a writer, who was living independently and separated from her husband, Jarosław Konopnicki.

[4][7] Krzysztof Tomasik, who wrote about Dulębianka in Homobiografie (2008), confirmed that she had had other relationships with women and that the couple had friends who were known lesbians, though the term was not in use at the time.

[10][Notes 2] Konopnicka became a strong influence on Dulębianka, who increasingly became involved in social welfare projects and activism for women's rights.

They visited Germany, Italy, France, and health resorts in Austria and the Czech regions of Austria-Hungary, rarely returning to Poland.

She shunned women's attire, instead wearing trousers or a long, straight skirt; cuffed-shirts and ties; a frock coat; and flat-heeled shoes.

[6] In 1900, at the Paris Exposition, two of her paintings — Na pokucie (On Penance) and Sieroca dola (The Orphan's Fate) — were honored with distinction and a third, Studium dziewczyny (Girls' Studio) was purchased, while still on display, by the National Museum in Kraków.

[1][17] In 1897, Dulębianka joined the Emancipation Center in Lviv and successfully pressed the city to establish a women's high school, enabling girls to access higher education.

[3] In 1901, Dulębianka gave a lecture in Zakopane called Dlaczego ruch kobiecy rozwija się tak powoli?

[1] Dulembianka fought for the admission of women to the ranks of the students of the Kraków School of Fine Arts and for the creation of a female gymnasium in Lviv.

[2][20] Supported by the People's Election Committee and the Progressive Women's Education Club, she launched her campaign with a pre-election speech on the ideal of equality.

[1][3][20] In 1909, Dulębianka spoke on behalf of the Stronnictwo Jutra (Party of Tomorrow), outlining a platform which demanded social equality, Polish independence, and the cooperation of Poles and Ukrainians.

[17] In 1914, she urged Civic Work members to support Piłsudski's Legions, when Lviv was occupied by the Imperial Russian Army.

[1][2] Traveling on irregularly-running trains, as well as on foot and horseback, Dulębianka and two hospital workers, Teodozja Dzieduszycka [pl] and Maria Opieńska, made their way through the snow to the camp at Mikulińce.