Kaití Paparriga-Kostavara

Anna Karamanou

Published in the newspaper Ta Nea,

November 2021

The intellectual feminist opponent of violence

The thought naturally leads to Kaíti Paparríga-Kostavara (1930-2015), when we talk about rapes, domestic violence, and femicides, especially every November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The imprint she left with her work and the greatness of her personality is very strong. Many women were inspired by her example to engage in feminist activism, write articles, studies, and books about gender-based violence and power relations, an area for which Kaíti possessed undeniable scientific knowledge, expertise, and recognition. As a lawyer, sociologist, and feminist, she wrote, studied, traveled, and passionately advocated against all forms of gendered violence in courtrooms, conferences, lectures, and teaching.

As a conscious and active citizen, she was present in the public sphere from various fronts and from a very young age, through feminist activism and her participation in institutional national and European bodies, but also as a professional lawyer in cases of gender-based violence (rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, human trafficking). During the post-junta period, she was the most dynamic lawyer defending women victims of rape in all significant trials from 1975 to 1999. As she herself said, at that time, the only trials concerning violence against women were related to rape. Kaíti, as a criminal law specialist, often spoke about the difficulties and dangers of the endeavor: “Female lawyers don’t choose to specialize in criminal law because it is reckless to deal with violence. I tried to train them, but I faced great difficulties.” When no one else would take on the defense of rape victims, Kaíti declared her presence: “Only in rape trials does the victim need defense,” she said , in order to achieve the conviction of her rapist! In other criminal trials, only the accused need defense!

She was committed to the idea and struggle of feminism. A radical and particularly pioneering figure, she was the president of the Movement of Democratic Women, with international reach, a fighter for women’s rights in Greece and Europe. The feminism of Kaiti was centered around camaraderie and mutual respect between the sexes. We are not a category. We are half!… she used to say. Her pulsating life cannot fit into an article, a tribute volume, a few words, or any form of summary. Overflowing and combative, an intellectual, with moral integrity, a strong sense of duty, and empathy towards human suffering, she co-shaped the social reality.

The amendment of Family Law, reflected in Law 1329/1983, which left behind the Ottoman legacy, also bears the stamp of Kaiti, as she was a member of the preparatory committee under Professor Aristovoulos Manesis, as well as a member of the inter-ministerial committee for processing the draft law on the decriminalization of abortion (1985-1986). She studied: Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Sociology at the University of Jussieu in Paris, European Law at the Institute of European Studies, a Master’s in Criminal and Civil Law in Italy, Women’s Studies at the University of St. Denis in Paris, and a doctoral thesis on the subject: Rape: The Crime, the Trial, and Social Perceptions.

She was the coordinator and special advisor of the Greek National Observatory for the Prevention of Violence against Women, the establishment of which was announced on May 31, 2003, during the Greek Presidency of the EU. She was also the author and editor of the training program for professionals at the National School of Public Administration (judges, prosecutors, public lawyers, police officers, social workers, psychologists, juvenile probation officers, doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists), a national expert for the European Commission on sexual harassment in the workplace. She made significant contributions to the preparatory committees for addressing gender-based violence (2000-2004) and (2010-2012), where she participated in multiple roles: President of the Movement of Democratic Women, head of the Greek delegation, and member of the Board of Directors of the European Women’s Lobby (1996-2002), national expert on violence at the Council of Europe, coordinator of the Greek National Observatory for the Prevention of Violence against Women, and author of the first report on the issue.

A woman of great modesty, she worked tirelessly with remarkable vitality, combativeness, and determination, with the sole ambition of achieving gender equality and justice. Everything that today is considered established and self-evident by younger generations of women needed people like Kaiti Papariga-Kostavara to be achieved, under the harsh conditions of a rigid patriarchy. Unfortunately, Kaiti did not live to see the Greek #MeToo movement.

Anna Karamanou

PhD (EKPA) – former Member of the European Parliament (PASOK).

Her book The Peaceful Uprising of Female Homo Sapiens, 1821-2021 is published by Armos Editions.