Parliament with or without women? ETHNOS

PARLIAMENT WITH OR WITHOUT WOMEN?
Newspaper ETHNOS	19 February 2004

At the deaf man’s door, knock as much as you want. This is what the attempt to raise awareness among the media about the underrepresentation of women in today’s Parliament, with 275 men and 25 women, looks like. A truly disabled parliament! Such a gender composition can only be compared to that of Islamic countries. But they couldn’t care less. The response from the media, especially the electronic ones, is the promotion of political stars, and beyond that, nothing. In debates, you rarely hear from any of the female candidates. The usual scene is 8-10 men politicizing and arguing in a typically macho manner. Of course, we understand that this is the Balkans, it’s not a joke. But when, in our neighboring countries—excluding Turkey—women MPs make up more than 20% of the members of parliament, the argument about Balkan temperament doesn’t hold up at all. This is exclusively a Greek issue.

Certainly, it is impossible for the electorate in Greece to support such a gender imbalance in such an important democratic institution. But who asked them? Public opinion research companies, which are well-paid, do not deign to ask such questions, like, for example, “Would you prefer a parliament with 92% men and 8% women, or a 50/50 balance?” Obviously, such indiscreet questions do not fit into their pre-made programs.

The current gender ratio in Parliament certainly does not reflect the composition of the electorate and the productive potential of our country (51% women), nor that of the student body in higher education, where women outnumber men (60%) and outperform them in academic achievements. It also does not correspond to the significant progress that has been made in Greece in recent years in all other areas. So, who is to blame?

At the government level, there have been serious initiatives and significant work by the General Secretariat for Gender Equality. Article 116 of the Constitution, after the latest revision, provides a strong legal basis for “taking positive measures to promote equality between men and women.” This constitutional mandate can serve as the foundation for action “to remove the inequalities that exist in practice, particularly those against women,” as was done with the mandatory 1/3 quota, which was successfully implemented in the last local elections and which, in hindsight, is praised by mayors and regional governors. “We were saved!” many now say, “Women are doing all the work.”

However, the candidate lists of all the parties, once again, are dominated by men. It is true that PASOK made a serious effort to renew its candidate lists and nominated more women. However, many electoral districts only have male candidates. At least for these, the oft-repeated and strongly disputed argument that, supposedly, women do not vote for women, will not apply. We still need to see the national lists of the two major parties.

Unfortunately, there is no culture of gender equality in the parties. Moreover, the electoral law, with the preferential vote, the expensive pre-election campaign, and the intense internal competition among candidates, does not encourage women’s participation. Additionally, in Greece in 2004, traditional structures of family responsibility division still hold strong, though not in the economic sphere, as men are no longer the sole providers for the family. We repeatedly heard Mr. Karamanlis, in recent days, refer to his wife’s many obligations to a third party, saying “she has two children,” “she has me.” Certainly, this is the Balkans… Sweden, the model of George Papandreou, seems quite far off.

What can we do by March 7th? Unfortunately, there is no time for a long-term strategy or action programs, such as those of the European parties, including Germany’s SPD, Finland’s SDP, and Sweden’s SAP with their 50/50 male/female ratio. The only thing we can do, both men and women voters, is to try to identify the women, support them, and vote for them. Our participatory democracy and the NEW ERA of George Papandreou need them!

Anna Karamanou

PASOK MEP

President of the Committee on Women’s Rights

of the European Parliament

email: info@karamanou.gr

www.karamanou.gr