TO VIMA East vs Europeanization
Opinions
8 March 2014: East VS Europeanization
Karamanou Anna
PUBLICATION: 08/03/2014, 06:00 | LAST UPDATE: 08/03/2014, 06:00
Half of the Italian cabinet and five female defense ministers of NATO constitute a significant change in the feminist assessment for this year’s International Women’s Day. It is evident that male dominance is being seriously challenged, primarily by the new generation of women who, possessing confidence and a high level of education, successfully compete with men where systems operate meritocratically. In Europe, at all levels of education, women have a clear advantage. In Greece, about two-thirds of university graduates in recent years are women. However, this triumph of women is not yet reflected in politics, the labor market, or in high positions of management and decision-making.
Historically, the European Community, immediately after World War II, under the pressure of the feminist movement, highlighted the issue of women’s rights and placed it at the center of the values on which the European integration project is based. The Europeanization of national gender equality policies is included among the prerequisites for the accession of new states to the EU. Undoubtedly, women gained a significant and loyal ally with the establishment of the Community. In Greece, immediately after accession in 1981, the PASOK government, with remarkable zeal, incorporated all the community legislation on equal pay and equal treatment into national law and overturned all the antiquated provisions of Civil and Criminal Law. The Europeanization of legislation and de jure gender equality was certainly a significant change and a necessary condition, but it was not sufficient to overturn the anachronistic stereotypes of Balkan/Mediterranean/patriarchal culture and the remnants of Ottoman heritage. The dramatic increase in women’s participation in education, paid work, and all professional and scientific fields was not accompanied by a redistribution of caregiving responsibilities in the private sphere between the genders, nor by a balancing of participation in democratic institutions and public offices. The tradition and spirit of the East proved to be much stronger than legislation, European policy, and logic.
Numbers are harsh and undeniable in revealing the truth: in the latest parliamentary elections, women occupied 64 seats out of 300 in the Parliament (21.3%), while the government includes only 4 women among the 41 members of the cabinet (9.7%). In Local Government, things are even worse: no women leading regions, with only 9 women in 325 mayoral positions (2.7%). The same phenomenon of “hegemonic masculinity” (and worse) is seen among the so-called social partners: no women in the 9-member board of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) resulting from the 35th Congress (March 2013) and only one in the 15-member executive committee. The same situation exists in employers’ organizations, such as SEV, GSEVEE, GESASE, etc. It is as if working women do not exist in Greece! It is understood that in the face of gender equality, the trade union system has remained hostile, stuck in 19th-century patterns and resistant to democratization. No one seems to be bothered by the ranking of the World Economic Forum (2013), where Greece, based on gender equality indicators, ranks 81st among 136 countries, alongside Middle Eastern countries.
The economic crisis and the inherent weaknesses of the Eurozone exacerbate the problems, society is becoming more conservative, violence against women is intensifying, and Greece’s transition to a modern European rule of law is becoming more difficult. The explosion of unemployment to staggering heights hits women particularly hard. Among young people under 25 years old, it reached 59%, while among young women it reached 65.5% (October 2013). In light of the local and European elections, patriarchy, as usual, is regrouping to maintain its gains, while gender equality is not even included on the political agenda, even from those who swear by the name of Europe and modernization. We saw coordinating committees without any female names and broader political formations with very few women. Clearly, the East is more alluring than Scandinavia.
We argue that the hierarchy of genders, the unequal distribution of rights and obligations, and the gender asymmetry in power structures constitute an irrational choice, a democratic deficit, as well as a moral deficit (in the Aristotelian sense), with serious consequences for social, economic, and political progress. We contend that gender equality, beyond its inherent value, strengthens democracy, social justice, and the moral dimension of politics (equality of rights and obligations), while at the same time maximizing indicators of well-being through the utilization of all human resources. Will women (primarily) dare to change the balance of power in the upcoming elections, leveraging the political power they possess, for the benefit of gender justice and the modernization of the country?
*Mrs. Anna Karamanou is a former president of the Gender Equality Committee of the European Parliament.