ELEFTHEROTYPIA, 50 years of victories and defeats of Greek women
| 50 YEARS OF VICTORIES AND DEFEATS OF GREEK WOMEN 1952-2002  Article by Anna Karamanu, MEP of PASOK, 03. 01. 2002 |
The recognition of women’s human and political rights worldwide is a very recent and painful history. The emergence of half of humanity, the female gender, from centuries of marginalization and obscurity, and its participation in public life, education, and economic activities, constitutes, according to sociologists, the greatest peaceful social revolution in human history. This historical event is not, of course, included in official celebrations.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of women’s right to vote in Greece, as in the year 1952 women were recognized as political entities, that is, as citizens of this country with full rights. This 50-year anniversary is certainly a good opportunity to assess the situation, to see where we stand, how far we have come, and what distance still remains.
Certainly, the greatest victory that women have achieved in the last 50 years is that of education and their participation at all levels of education, breaking a centuries-old “tradition” of exclusion. However, better than words, the numbers show the magnitude of women’s triumph. Among the total of 22,784 university graduates in the academic year 1999-2000, 13,953 are women, which is a percentage of 61.2%. In the same year, 16,446 men and 24,195 women enrolled in the first semester, a percentage of 59.5%. In technical universities, the picture is roughly the same. Women make up 57.2% of graduates. At the University of Athens, the percentage of female graduates reaches 72.7% of the total, at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki it is 58.6%, at Panteion University it is 67.4%, at the Industrial University of Piraeus it is 54.6%, at the Athens University of Economics and Business it is 54.6%, at the Higher School of Fine Arts it is 72.2%, at Ionian University it is 79.5%, and at the University of the Aegean it is 60.7%. The honor and reputation of men are saved by the National Technical University of Athens, where the percentage of women is only 34.1%!!.. The numbers and percentages indicate that where the processes are incorruptible, meritocratic, and objective, where there is justice and true equality of opportunity, women have no problem. The problem lies with the hierarchy of genders and the male-centered organization of society.
In the field of paid labor, there have been great victories but also heavy defeats, despite the increasing and dynamic presence of women in all professional and scientific sectors. In the judiciary, 75% of new entrants are women, which means that soon the same percentages will apply to the Supreme Court. However, at the same time, outdated perceptions and prejudices persist in the labor market, resulting in discrimination and inequalities against women, higher unemployment rates, low wages, and pensions, despite the laws for equality passed in the 1980s. Women’s work is often seen as a temporary situation and a supplement to the family budget. In the minds of many, motherhood, household chores, and the unpaid provision of services are recorded as the only acceptable occupations for women. Thus, the social security system was structured in a way that responds to these expectations. Motherhood and childcare, instead of being supported with social infrastructure, childcare centers, and parental leave with pay and insurance coverage—measures that would harmonize professional life with family life—were addressed with incentives for women to leave the labor market and return home. Many organizations, such as OTE, even ensured that women’s salary and career advancement would be exhausted within 15 years, so that no incentive for staying would be provided. Naturally, all these measures, supposedly in the name of motherhood, actually aimed to maintain traditional gender roles. It is noteworthy that all this “protection” not only did not increase births, but on the contrary, led to a sharp decline in the fertility rate.
All the above is connected to another area, politics, where women have indeed lost many battles in the last 50 years, though I hope not the war. Unfortunately, significant changes in legislation, education, and employment have not been accompanied by corresponding representation and participation of women in democratic institutions. Women’s participation in all three pillars of democracy—parliament, local government, and trade unions—with percentages below 10% is among the lowest in the world. You see, the ascent to these positions does not occur through nationwide competitions, as, for example, in the Youth Parliament. It is worth noting that during the recent election of the 17-member Executive Committee of ADEDY, not a single woman was elected, even though women make up the majority of public employees. The same goes for GSEE. No women in the 15-member Executive Committee, only one among the 45 members of the Board. And yet, they assure us that they represent the interests of women and that they know them better than we do. Should we believe them?
Unfortunately, Aristotle’s theory of the two spheres of human life, the public and the private, and the restriction of women to the private sphere have profoundly influenced philosophical thought, social structure, and political science through the ages. Today, despite the great need for a redistribution of responsibilities in the private sphere as a counterbalance to the redistribution of professional and economic obligations, the “gender contract” in Greece remains almost unchanged, with significant social, economic, and political costs.
The absence of women from centers of decision-making and power is dialectically linked to the unequal distribution of responsibilities in private life, discrimination in employment, instances of violence and exploitation of women, the projection of distorted stereotypes by the media, and the crisis of representation in the political system. Greek women make up half of the population, half of the country’s productive potential, and half of its capabilities, and are entitled to corresponding political representation. The absence of a critical mass of women in politics deprives the country of the valuable human resources it possesses. Women are neither a minority nor a separate species of human beings that require protection. They only need full and unobstructed exercise of their rights, including the right to be elected. When this right is practically undermined, the only fair solution is the one provided by France under Jospin and Chirac, which ensured balanced participation of the genders in all decision-making centers.
The year 2002 marks a turning point for Greek women, as well as a starting point for the next 50 years. Women globally represent a new emerging peace-oriented political force that can renew politics, establish a new culture, and build a world of peaceful coexistence, sustainable development, equality, and solidarity among people.