The Contemporary Women's Movement in

By Eleni Stamiris

lthough , like de- domestic activities have been devalued, THE NEW WAVE OF GREEK mocracy or socialism, ap- and frequently women have become more FEMINISM peals to a universalistic soli- marginalized within the wage economy. darity -born, in this case, of Greece is an inmguing case because the By the end of the Civil War in 1949 all A progressive movements in Greece had resistance to common experiences of national social formation displays many patriarchal andcapitalist inequality -the of the features and contradictions of both been crushed. The women's mass organi- character of particular women's move- advanced and less developed countries. zations that had developed at the end of ments is still shaped by profoundly na- The classical 'semi-peripheral' economy, the German occupation, addressing for tional contexts of history and socio-eco- Greece combines a significant 'off-shore' the first time the needs and problems of all nomic progress. The uneven trajectories commercial and shipping complex with a women, were dissolved.' Their records of contemporary capitalist development, patriarchal agricultural economy and a were confiscated and destroyed, and of under-development, have imparted to weak manufacturing base. Although many of their members took the road to the national contingents of the interna- women's role in the Greek economy has exile or were locked up for years in con- tional women's movement similar yet been greatly transformed over the last centration camps. (The camp at Trikeri different demands, priorities, structures thirty years, women have not, as in North- alone held five thousand women). The and orientations. In most cases the form of ern Europe, increased their presence few organizations that did survive, such the emergence of modem feminism has within the wage sector. At the same time as the Panhellenic Union of Housewives, been directly influenced by changes in the post-war Greek history has been domi- the YWCA or the League of Business and role of women in the national productive nated by civil war, counter-revolution and Professional Women, developed by incli- system. Thus, to invoke aprincipalNorth- the struggle against military dictatorship. nation or force of circumstance in afunda- South differential, the nature of the Thus the contemporary women's move- mentally conservative direction. It was women's movements in the advanced ment has been particularly influenced by not until the 1960s. in the period before industrial countries has been influenced the antecedent or simultaneous roles of the Colonels' coup, that a militant by the increasing integration of women women within democratic and class women's movement re-emerged as a into the wage economy and by the partial struggles. Most recently the efforts of the wing of the popular struggle for radical socialization of reproduction to meet the PASOK government to implement gen- social change. Of the new groups formed demand for female labour-power. The der equality from the 'top down' have in this period, the most important was the immense productive capacity of the capi- raised important questions about the rela- reconstituted Panhellenic Union of Greek talist Centre to transform basic needs and tionshipbetween the 'autonomous' mobi- Women. After its foundation in 1964, the to extend the sphere of commodity rela- lization of women and the parties of the PEG displayed a remarkable dynamism tions creates, in turn, the conditions for an Left. In the survey which follows, begin- but was suppressed by the dictatorship in expanded female working class to raise ning with a brief evocation of the origins 1967.2 Again all progressive organiza- new demands for equality. In contrast, the of contemporary feminism in Greece, I tions were liquidated,and many feminists economic position of women in many have tried to elicit the peculiarities of were sent to prison or interned. Large developing countries has greatly deterio- historical and social development insofar numbers were subsequently arrested, tor- rated over the recent period. The educa- as they have influenced a distinctive tured and condemned to lengthy irnpris- tion gap between the sexes has widened, women's movement. onment for activities against the dictator-

VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2 83 ship. As in the past, women were asked to manded equal access to employment and formed immediately after the collapse of put aside their own special demands in affirmativeaction until this was achieved. the junta in 1974, was the Democratic order to support a fresh struggle for free- A correlative and equally important Women's Movement (KDG),which ral- dom and democracy. demand concerned the abolition of occu- lied around it many of the progressive Thus while Western feminism was pational sex segregation: equal wages for women of the Left. In 1976, with the undergoing a great renaissance in the late work of equal value, full access to all establishment of the party of the 1960s and early 1970s, with vigorous occupations, equal opportunities for pro- Panhellenic Socialist Movement PA- debates over ideologies and goals, the motion, and extensive social protection, SOK) and the consolidation of the com- discussion of in Greece including for 'unpaid family helpers', munist split between the KKE and KKE- was almost entirely stifled by a dictator- piece-workers in cottage industry, and the Interior, two other major organizations ship resting on the cult of the family. informalsector of theeconomy. Pensions, developed: the Union of Greek Women When the colonels finally fell in 1974, the medical care and maternity allowances and the Federation of Greek Women, women's movement which re-emerged were particularly vital for m1women, ideologically oriented to PASOK and the was integrally connected with the wider the most exploited sector of the Greek KKE respectively. These organizations context of progressive politics. Indeed, labour force. drew some of their membership from the the first women's groups wereinitiated by At the same time, women's groups KDG, which subsequently aligned itself political women belonging to parties of presented a compelling analysis of the with the KKE-Interior.In 1976Women in theLeft, who simultaneously held in view state's failure to socialize the costs of Resistance was also formed, with the aim strong political, social and feminist goals. reproduction. Pointing to the necessity of of bringing to light the struggles of "There can be no women's liberation sharing domestic work between men and women resistance fighters in the fascist without social liberation, no social libera- women, and to the state's obligation to period from 1941 to 1944,and of offering tion without women's liberation" - be- undertake the social function of caring for solidarity to the women of the world liv- came the slogan of an increasing number the workforce, they demanded the provi- ing under colonial or fascist regimes. of feminists. sion of such services as day care, paid Party affiliation thus often provided the The primacy of safeguarding demo- parental leave, extended school hours for broader male legitimation needed for the cracy underpinned all feminist concerns working parents, inexpensive public women to mobilize throughout the coun- in this early period of transition back to a cafeterias, public washing and ironing try, since male party members or sympa- parliamentary system. Greek feminists facilities, and so on. They further ad- thizers found it difficult to oppose the not only demanded equal rights with men dressed the underlying problem of recruitment of their wives and daughters (which meant sharing equally the eco- children's socialization into traditional into what they considered as the party's nomic crisis) and greater participation in gender roles, proposing the democratiza- women's group. Given the still marginal development (which was under- tionof the school system and therewriting position of most Greek women in produc- development for the many), but also pro- of sexist text-books. They also demanded tion and the difficulties of organizing tested against the capitalist structures and free and legal on demand, the them, the support of popular political alienating productive processes into establishment of centres, movements was an effective means of which they were by no means eager to be and an effective government department spreading feminist ideas. integrated. Their challenge was to the to promote policies for women. Only after Of course, dual allegiance to a party and very class structure of a society that ex- eight years of struggle was the old Family a women's organization did not come ploited and oppressed them. Law finally reformed and a series of other without problems for most female activ- One of the first major collaborative major legal and administrative changes ists, particularly since the different in- efforts of the new women's groups was introduced to upgrade women's position. stances competed for time and energy. the campaign against the epitome of patri- During this time, however, the women's Moreover, feminists within the parties of archy, the Greek , itself based movement helped to reshape the agenda the Left inevitably came into conflict with on Byzantine tradition. A Co-ordinating of Greek politics. As we shall see, the persistent male biases and androcentric Committee of Representatives of principal fruit of this agitation was the thinking. From the very beginning, some Women's Organizations (SEGES), platform of women's 'emancipation' that party members had resented the auton- formed in 1976, helped to organize the new Socialist government brought omy and exclusiveness of the women's extensive mobilization against the Law, with it in 1981. groups, which seemed a terra incognita and an expert committee appointed by the beyond the reach of the party. Others government incorporated some of the - would not accept in their theoretical women's demands in the so-called Ghazis BUILDING A GRASSROOTS framework any rationale for the separate reform bill. When the bill failed to pass MOVEMENT organization of women since the party through parliament, however, it became was supposed to espouse uniform goals.3 clear to feminists that the Conservative After the fall of the Colonels, the politi- The primacy given to women's questions government was only paying lip-service cally astute new women's movement by the more militant women's groups was to equality and had no intention of rectify- modelled itself on more familiar forms of infrequently shared by party comrades, ing even the most blatant forms of dis- organization: a constitution, centralized who often accused women of 'unreason- crimination. Despite this temporary de- and hierarchical leadership, work in able extremism', so that the initial system feat, feminists extended their struggle to committees, an electoral system and a of mutually reinforcing relationships other areas of women's oppression - spreading network of branches. In the gave way to uneasy alliances. Other above all, their general marginalization in initial stages, some of the budding women's groups that emerged during this wage employment. As women's depend- women's groups also leaned heavily on period enjoyed a considerably smaller ence and 'domestication' were at the heart the established parties of the Left. The membership, many of whom were of their inferior position, feminists de- first important umbrella organization, women who had been devoted to the

CANADIAN STUDIESLES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME feminist cause for years. Western radical level of the family to the macro-level of Female equality was institutionalized feminism then appealed only to a small world male culture. by an official decree that established number of young middle-class students As socialist-feministstried to maintain special national machinery to promote and intellectuals, often educated abroad, a balance between the commitments to much-needed legislation and to monitor and was generally perceived by both socialism and feminism, the more radical its implementation. A Prime Minister's women and men as yet another import of fringes of the movement began dropping Council for Sex Equality, upgraded in 'decadent' cultural imperialism. out of the 'formal' women's organiza- 1985 to a General Secretariat, became a By the end of the 1970s a full spectrum tions to create their own autonomous dynamic body through which policy was of feminist responses to women's oppres- network. Like the radical feminists of instigated or carried out by a small, dedi- sion had been elaborated. The older, lib- Western Europe, they rejected all existing cated staff of women, many of whom had eral tradition changed little in its basically authoritarian structures,relationships and come out of the women's movement. At individualist and egalitarian approach. processes, including participation in the the same time, a network of Equality The women's struggle was still conceived political parties that were seen as absorb- Bureaux in every prefecture of the coun- as focused on 'equal rights, equal obliga- ing and colonizing the women's move- try assured the decentralization of the tions' and against open discrimination in ment. Their main target was not capital- drive to advance the position of women. A economic and public life. As a principal ism but male power and supremacy per se, specific government programme for strategy, liberal feminists continued to against which they counterposed femi- women was incorporated in the national lobby the government and bureaucracy to nism as a new humanist ideology and and sectoral plans. Following suit after adopt progressive policies towards practice that would create the foundations 1981 was the barrage of new legislative women and to lead public opinion in of a new society. However, the fluid and reforms, bringing all national legislation support of equality. Women's full inte- unstable enclaves of in into line with the principles of equality gration in society on an equal basis with and Salonika had little success in and ratifying Greece's adherence to the men was considered the final goal. On the proselytising among women in general - UN convention for the Elimination of All other side, the traditional socialist posi- the price to be paid for feminist autonomy Forms of Discrimination against Women tion submerged the whole women's ques- in a still highly patriarchal society. and InternationalConvention No. 103 for tion within a larger critique of capitalist the protection of maternity. To ensure society, claiming that Greek women's equality in all areas of life, reforms were low status derived from their position in THE PASOK EXPERIENCE introduced by every major ministry as the structure of production as a reserve well as the Manpower Employment army of labour. In this view, women's Agency. Pensions and medical coverage struggle was an integral part of the In October 1981 the Socialist govern- were extended to uninsured working broader working-class struggle against ment came to power bearing gifts to women and equality bureaux set up in imperialism, and women's employment Greek women. Leaping out of the dark each labour inspectorate. Assistance to conditions became the main practical ages of cultural , Greece working parents with children was pro- focus. The solution to the woman ques- suddenly became the international fore- vided through 'parental leave' which es- tion was the transition to socialism and runner in progressive public policy for tablished the father's right to share in the peace. As the struggle for socialism had women. In this transformation the Union raising of children. Rural women's back- primacy for women, both women and of Greek Women, led by MargaretPapan- ward social position was partially amelio- men operated from an identical paradigm dreou, played a key role in formulating rated through abolition of the law which that did not create antithetical interests or policies and pressuring the government prohibited their participation in agricul- conflict between women's organization for their adoption. The PASOK govern- tural cooperatives and, more substan- and the party. ment eventually took up most of the sug- tively, through the extension of maternity The socialist-feminist orientation was gestions of the EGE and other women's allowances and medical and pharmaceu- also strongly represented in the women's groups, albeit in a usually diluted form. tical benefits. movement by such organizations and First the perennial demand for a reform of Within a few years this reform pro- centres as the Union of Greek Women the infamous Family Law was granted as gramme had revolutionized the statutory (EGE), the Democratic Women's Move- a goodwill gesture towards women, who framework of Greek society. In addition, ment (KDG), the Mediterranean had been highly instrumental in school books were rewritten with the help Women's Studies Institute (KEGME) PASOK's margin of victory. The new of women's organizations to express the and others. The EGE (claiming a mem- l family provisions abolished the old patri- principle of equality, and family planning bership of over 15,000) and the KDG both archal categories and replaced them with services were introduced for the first time had an important grassroots organization the family 'founded on equality'. The in both town and countryside. A rudimen- spread over Greece, in towns, villages and husband was no longer the 'head' and tary social infrastructurecame into being, islands. The socialist-feminists were in arbiter of children's destiny, and family including hundreds of new day-care partial agreement with the traditional decisions were made the joint responsi- centres. Innovative programmes and job equation of women's oppression with bility of both spouses. Children's up- cooperatives were initiated to increase capitalism, but they argued that, since it bringing had to be conducted without women's employment, and affmative- also derived from patriarchy, it would not gender discrimination, and children born action measures opened up opportunities magically disappear with socialist trans- out of wedlock became equal before the in non-traditional occupations such as formation, as the actually existing social- law. In the civil code, divorce by mutual bus-driving. In effect the PASOK govern- ist societies demonstrated. The feminist consent -another traditional demand of ment succeeded in actually implementing struggle was thus a difficult and pro- the women's movement -was legalized much of the reform agenda that the mass foundly revolutionary challenge to the and the humiliating institution was women's organizations had been de- very fabric of society, from the micro- formally abolished. manding since the fall of the junta.

VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2 WHAT REMAINS TO BE DONE particular importance in the Greek con- some steps, as the General Secretariat for text. Women's studies programmes were Equality launched a training programme In the middle of the 1980s, despite the informally introduced at Salonika Uni- for professionals involved with battered Socialist government's top-down efforts versity by feminist teachers and students, women and drew up plans for a protection to alter women's legal and civil status, as well as on the island of Spetses through centre in Athens. equality was still nowhere near to being a two-week KEGME summer pro- It remained obvious that political achieved, and the old patriarchal assump- gramme for women from the whole marginalization was a powerful factor in tions were still fily rooted in Greek Mediterranean region. Distinctive keeping women powerless and perpetua- society. Legal changes and government women's art, film and theatre began to ting their inferior social and economic programmes were like drops in a sea of make its appearance,and a whole range of status. Trade unions, political parties, discrimination. Opportunities for wage magazines circulated in Athens and the parliamentary bodies and govemment employment continued to be scarce in provinces - from commercial weeklies, itself had a sorry record of failing to inte- almost zero-growth conditions, and un- through magazines primarily addressed grate women not only in executive office employment was hitting women twice as to the membership of women's organiza- but even within their rank and file. The hard as men, especially in the younger age tions, to theoretical journals attuned to the Socialist government's move towards brackets. Those women employed out- latest debates of Western femini~rn.~ somedecentralization had benefiteda few side the home were still situated at the By the mid- 1980s the women's move- women who were elected to prefectural or bottom of the occupational and salary ment was reopening with new fervour the local councils. By and large, however, scale, as a largely unskilled, underem- old controversy about abortion, birth only a few 'token' women were to be ployed and underpaid labour force. control and sexuality, declaring women's found in central and higher instances, Women with higher education and skills basic right to control their own bodies and with little power or voice to make a no- faced gender hierarchies that still concen- functions as the fundamental goal in the table impact on women's behalf. In 1985 trated men at the top, especially in the struggle for equality. For years Greek the Greek Parliament had 13 women fields of science and technology. It was feminists had been campaigning for free among a total of 300 deputies (8 from becoming apparent to feminists that re- and legal abortion, as women were daily PASOK, 3 from New Democracy and 2 forms of a mainly statutory nature, and the risking their lives and health in the esti- from the KKE). This marked a significant few affirmative-action government pro- mated 250,000 to 300,000 per- but very small increase since 1956, when grammes, were only the first step in a long formed on them annually -terminations two women occupied seats in Parliament. process in which only major restructuring which, though illegal, were widely toler- Women accounted for 9 out of 55 no- could create the conditions for equality ated in an Orthodox culture markedly marchs, 4 out of 276 mayors, 22 out of between women and men. different from Mediterranean Catholi- 5,751 community presidents. There were Since women's struggles had for so cism. By theend of 1985 a Bill was before two women presidents of public organiza- long been waged at the level of equal Parliament that would leave women free tions, one minister (of culture and sci- rights and opportunities, the govern- to decide on abortion up to the twelfth ence), three deputy ministers (of health ment's thorough reformulation of laws week of pregnancy or the twenty-fourth and welfare, social security and industry), and policies based on the principle of week in thecase of fetalabnormality, after and three heads of general secretariats equality eliminated for a while the mili- which individual cases would be exam- (health and welfare, Abroad, tant cutting-edge once characteristic of ined by a special committee. No resmc- equality). the movement. Women's organizations tions whatever would apply in cases of Greek women's organizations were took a back seat to the government drive rape or incest, or of danger to the 's also seriously engaged in forging links of for equality. Abandoning its vigorous health. The cost of the operation would be international solidarity, especially with confrontation tactics, the movement was covered by the national health insurance the Third World. Through the workshops now pushing into other areas and levels of scheme. In addition, feminists continued they organized and the interventions they activity, as well as attempting to expand to argue for sex and contraceptive educa- made in Nairobi, Greek feminists had a its grassroots base. Small consciousness- tion in schools, for a nation-wide system strong presence at the United Nations raising groups of the 'autonomous' kind of child care, family planning and public World Conference on Women in July proliferated in the cities, going in and out health, and the provision of strong incen- 1985. International political issues, such of existence according to their more or tives for families having children. as the struggle for disarmament and less temporary goals.4 Alongside mem- Another major issue in the agenda re- demilitarized zones in the Mediterranean bers' homes or special meeting-places, ferred to the tenacity of traditional values and elsewhere, were being actively taken women's bookshops served as new and perceptionsof women's roles, and the up by feminists, who countered male centres of information and theoretical stereotypical image of women portrayed aggression by raising their own voices development. Research and documenta- in the mass media. Women's organiza- loud and clear: "No to military bases and tion centres, such as the Mediterranean tions were pressing for the clean-up to nuclear weapons in Greece!"; "No to Women's StudiesInstitute and the Centre begin with the state-controlled radio and poverty and starvation in the Third for Documentation and Study of television. With regard to the exploitation World!"; "No to Star Wars!"; "Yes to Women's Problems, also provided li- of the female body in advertising, the Peace, Friendship and Solidarity with all brary facilities and an elementary infor- government was preparing a Bill that women and peoples of the world!" mation base on the international move- would partly meet the demands of In conclusion, the first yearsof PASOK ment. Women anthropologists, sociolo- women. Feminists were again taking up government did succeed in opening for gists, agronomists, economists, psy- the issue of , women a window to reform, which estab- chologists and political scientists opened urging that refuges for battered wives lished the framework through which other up new areas to investigation - field , should be set up in the large cities. For the changes could occur on the basis of a work in village communities being of first time the govemment itself was taking vigorous economy. But it is precisely

CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIESLES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME there that the problem lies - in the stag- l Some of the best known were the In terms of official party policy, the nant, debt-ridden nature of the economy. 'Women's Rights Organization' of Pi- exception in this regard is the KKE-Inte- Feminists all over the world are already raeus and the Athens-based Panhellenic rior, which recently recognized the need posing alternativedevelopmentstrategies Union of Women PEG), which became a for an 'autonomous' movement on the for the benefit of women, men, families founding member of the International grounds that women are best suited to and societies as a whole. In this respect, Democratic Federation of Women, express their own problems and to direct they stand in the vanguard of national and formed in Paris in 1945, and went on to their own struggle for liberation. international struggles for 'real' develop publish a journal Greek Women. In 1946 ment for all. Moreover, recent interest in the PEG organized a national conference The 'autonomous' movement inclu- women's studies and the critique of tradi- at which a permanent co-ordinating body ded such groups as the Anarchofeminist tional knowledge and science is helping -the Panhellenic Federation of Women Women's Group, various self-help and to bring about a conceptual reassessment (IPOG) - was constituted. The Wo- self-awareness collectives, the Autono- of work and non-work, power, develop men's Union of Salonika was just one of mous Movement of Women, and many ment, and so on -aprocess that will soon the quite dense network of urban others. See Women's Agenda (Athens: begin to inform and empower the Greek women's groups that was set up in the Utopia Publishers, 1980). women's movement. At the end of the UN same period. Decade of Women, there is an imperative Among the major periodicals are: need for a broader feminist alliance in In the next few years SEGES brought Woman's Struggle (published by the Greece, a 'bloc' that will be able to accel- under its umbrella the Democratic Union League for Women's Rights), Open erate the struggle for an alternative devel- of Young Women, the Union of Greek Window (EGE), Contemporary Woman opment in which 'people matter' and to Women Lawyers, the Union of Greek (OGE), The Bulletin (KDG), New advance its own radical vision of a new Women, the Democratic Women's Horizons (YWCA), Women of Europe humanist society. The future of the Greek Movement, the Movement of Women in (Commission of European Communi- women's movement itself is wide open. the Resistance, the Federation of Greek ties), Earth (Salonika Women's Group), Women, the Panhellenic Union of House- Women's Whispers (newsletter of the wives, the Progressive Union of Greek Greek-Housewives), Mousidora , the Association of Greek Secre- (Women and Film), 'Out' (Multicultural This article is an abridged version of taries, the Association of Greek House- Women's Liberation Group), City of "The Women's Movement in Greece," wives, the Association of Women Uni- Women and . which was published in the new left re- versity Graduates, and the Coordinating view, 158. Committee of Working Women.

Rain

It always rained Policemen walked when you were two and in Istedgade. two by two avoided sober men. Lamplight their white spread itself clubs hung loose If you went into like large sunflowers on their belts. Their helmets Cafe Charles in the falling flashed bright and wet. you would be killed. darkness. They all looked Many went in alike they but no one ever came knew that out alive. Near the railway station you stole and sold The big children in the the whores came out bottles from the lumberyard. seventh class said that they looked like rich ladies and everything they said with umbrellas A fierce smell came was true. and high heels. from all the sidestreets. You had imagined them The unemployed It still rains entirely different walked home with in Istedgade. and were disappointed. steady steps Nothing has changed and closing-time looks. shivering you go Near the cinema past Cafe Charles and know The stench from stood a queue of that the big children speak more the slaughterhouse noisy young apprentices. truth than the grownups. was not so bad as during the day. Now all the other Drunk men children sat at dinner are not dangerous you had told said my a lie you were girlfriend a little scared By Tove Ditlevsen child molesters and in a festive mood because Translated from the Danish by are always sober. nothing happened Cynthia Norris Graae

VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2 87