Stasova was born into a noble and wealthy family; Tsar Alexander I of Russia was her godfather, and she received extensive private tutoring as a child.
The triumvirate founded and led several organizations designed to promote women's cultural and economic independence, including a publishing cooperative.
Subsequently, the triumvirate pushed government officials to allow higher education for women, although continuing opposition meant that their successes were sometimes limited or reversed.
[4]: 75 As a girl, Stasova was privately tutored by professors hired by her family and studied foreign languages, music, art, and etiquette.
[1]: 526 As she grew older, she frequently borrowed her father's books and read much French literature, including the work of the feminist George Sand.
[1]: 526 [4]: 75 In later years, she regarded the childhood tutoring she received as frivolous and wrote that her father and brothers did not feel women required serious education; Stasova recalled that they would tease and belittle her.
[4]: 76 Trubnikova, a translator and activist more than a decade younger than Stasova, actively sought to educate fellow women on feminist issues, seeing her salon as way to connect and empower them.
[4]: 77 Stasova, Trubnikova, and fellow feminist Anna Pavlovna Filosofova became close friends and allies, and were referred to by their contemporaries as the "triumvirate".
[2]: 672 [10] The historian Richard Stites describes the triumvirate as "the three major [feminist] figures", who drew on support from wider circles of dozens of women who "moved in and out" of various roles.
It published a wide variety of books, including textbooks, scientific works, and children's stories, such as Darwin's On the Origin of Species and Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales.
[5]: 152 Although it was initially successful, the cooperative never received governmental approval, and suffered financial difficulties after Stasova and Trubnikova later went abroad and its bookselling partner went bankrupt.
[4]: 78–79 In 1867, the triumvirate, spurred by writer Evgenia Ivanovna Konradi, began pushing for Russian universities to create courses open to women.
[2]: 671 [7]: 75–76 The campaign began with a meeting at Trubnikova's home between scores of interested women and (male) scholars, where a plan of action was agreed upon.
[12]: 38 He rejected the petition in late 1868, but under pressure from Tsar Alexander II, allowed less-advanced, mixed-gender public lectures which women could attend.
[7]: 77 [12]: 38–39 In Tsarist Russia, state policy was poorly coordinated and inconsistent due to the competing interests of rival ministers, and the triumvirate looked for another path to support higher education for women.
They appealed to the more liberal war minister Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin, who, persuaded by his wife, daughter, and Filosofova, agreed to host medical courses for women in Saint Petersburg.
[12]: 43, 59–62, 74–76 In April 1876, at Tolstoy's urging, Alexander II permitted the creation of courses for higher education for women, although admission to men's universities was still barred.
[1]: 528 [2][12]: 74–76, 95–103 By 1889, Stasova, along with fellow feminist Elena Osipovna Likhacheva [ru] persuaded the Tsar (then Alexander III) to permit the courses to reopen.
[1]: 528 [12]: 93 However, as part of the reactionary éminence grise Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev's efforts to bring educational institutions under government control, Stasova was forced to step down as director, officially accused of "inefficiency and muddle headedness".
[1]: 528–529 She served as a mentor to Liubov Gurevich and other younger feminists; the historian Rochelle Ruthchild writes that she "achieved almost saintlike status among those who knew her, as they noted with awe her unquenchable fervor".