Feminism in Greece

Shortly after Feminist ideology started gaining popularity in the mid-19th and early 20th century in the UK and US and slowly the rest of the world, the movement begun affecting changes to the social and political life of Greece, and in 1952, Greek women gained the right to vote. However, other changes did not come until a few decades later, as with, for example, the introduction of sweeping changes in family law that introduced legal equality between spouses and abolished the practice of dowry among other things.

In the larger cities of Greece, such as Athens, women have a more integrated role in society and the community; however, in the rural areas of Greece a strongly expressed patriarchal society still flourishes. One of the underlying ideas that fuel this structure is that women are “naturally” associated with the domestic area of the workforce, which carries a smaller weight than the larger workforce that men are typically involved in. Assumptions like these have been standard in rural Greek families for centuries.

Traditionally, the domestic arena was where a Greek woman's responsibility was. Whether they were dealing with household chores or cooking for the family, Greek women efficiently carried out their duties in the home. The house was such an important factor in the life of a Greek woman, that people often compared the cleanliness of the living space to the character of the woman that inhabited it. Rural areas in particular have been very conservative on gender roles. 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 regards to reproduction, the future and size of a family has been traditionally seen as dependent on the wishes of the husband. 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.” Within the home, the woman is responsible for raising and nurturing the children while her husband is at work. This falls within the realm of her domestic duties in the home. One piece of control that women often control is the finances. Although many women do not have jobs within the formal work sector, they still budget and govern the income.

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