Feminism in Greece

[8] Parren's newspaper soon became a hallmark of social change, working as both a forum for promoting progressive ideals and disseminating information.

Newly out from underneath the Ottoman Empire's rule of the last 4 centuries, the Greek population experienced peace, but a new question arose about how to further direct the country in its newfound freedom.

However, the practice of young unmarried women requiring an escort from a male relative was still prevalent, as well as honor crimes based on a woman's reputation.

One such magazine was Skoupa, which drew attention to the problematic nature of tying femininity to motherhood and the expectation on women to desire children.

[12] By the mid-1980s, family law that had been deemed discriminatory against women had been revised and the government had begun to enact some of the change demanded by Greek Feminists.

This intersection raised questions of bodily autonomy, including reproductive rights of access to abortion and the birth control pill, discrimination in the workplace, and representation in government.

According to Mills, the traditional perception of women in rural Greece is that a woman's time outside the house is a potential threat to the family's honor.

This perception stems from a fundamental Greek belief that a man's honor relied heavily upon the purity and modesty of his wife, sister, and daughters.

In a countrywide study by Yannis Tauntas et al., the majority of women in Greece felt that contraception was the responsibility of the man.

Placing the responsibility of family planning in the man's hands is largely due to a view of passive sexuality in which Greek women refer to themselves as "becoming impregnated, without taking part in the process.

[6] Traditionally, domestic violence was considered a largely private issue, but in the past decades the views have changed.

[18] Greece ratified in 2009 the Lanzarote Convention, the first international treaty that addresses child sexual abuse that occurs within the home or family.

[25] Although the percentage of women in the workplace is lower than in many other European countries, the presumptions and attitudes towards what entails a job that are what make this statistic unsettling.

[1] These jobs are extensions of a woman's domestic work and can be easily balanced while carrying out the daily duties within the home.

However, in small countryside societies like Kokkari, Greece, women's work is not considered "real" labor and thus has less symbolic value than a man's job.

For example, in response to the EU Directive 2002/73/EC, Greece enacted Law 3488/2006 against discrimination in employment and occupation, on the basis of sex or marital status, and against sexual harassment.

The tradition that a woman is not allowed to enter the church during her menstrual cycle or for forty days after she has given birth is still observed today; however, it is becoming less common among younger women.

This tradition is fast disappearing, easily noted if one attends Greek Orthodox Church services today.

However, women have made strides within the past few years, and in the 2004 election a woman named Prof. Helen Louri was appointed as Senior Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister.

It was their opinion that the ideals put forth were "bourgeois" and would cause a divergence between men and women, therefore hindering working class solidarity.

In response, those against this so called "neo-feminism" published literature and propaganda advertising the benefits of a traditional family structure.

Birth control and abortion were also frowned upon, as it was the belief that if a woman had the financial support of the state when conceiving, she wouldn't need contraception.