[1][2] Her father, Andrei Petrovich Kisliakov, was a former serf and employed as a military official in the commandant's headquarters in Oranienbaum under the Decembrist leader Pavel Pestel.

[4] Shapir notably attended Alexandrovskaia gymnasium from 1863 to 1865, a school founded by Emperor Alexander I, and earned a gold metal as a top student in the class.

Shapir's intellectual curiosity led her to attend public lectures in 1870, including the “Vladminirskie Courses” which were created as a limited opportunity for Russian women to continue their education and participate in academic circles.

[5] As a young adult, Shapir aspired to earn her own income and wrote short articles and translations for Russian newspapers Bizhevye vedomosti (Stock-Exchange News) and Novoe vremia (New Times).

Between 1879 and 1887, her novels, including A High Price to Pay: A Family Story (Dorogoi tsenoi: iz semeinoi prozy, 1882) and Funeral Feast (Pominki, 1886) evaluate female slavery.

Then between 1879 and 1904, Shapir featured "the new woman" in her books, a concept developed by Aleksandra Kollontai, giving female heroines autonomy and control over the story's plot.

As a respected public speaker and writer to equal rights feminists (ravnopravki) in Russia, she advocated that women should not aspire to the same set of standards as men.

Shapir's disagreement with the Society's administrative leader, Anna N. Shabanova, on charitable projects led her to resign from the Council but continue working in the Suffrage Department to plan the First All-Russian Women's Congress in 1908.

The congress was a significant moment in Russian history, as it gathered thousands of female delegates of varying backgrounds to chart a path forward toward a more equitable future.

While it was originally planned for 1905, it was postponed three years because governor-general, Trepov, required the speeches be censored amidst ongoing tension between Russian society and the government.

Shapir's contribution to the Suffrage Department of the Russian Women's Philanthropic Society played an essential role in crafting legislature adopted by the State Duma that directly awarded females their inheritance separate from their husband.