NewsLab

In the centre-right government of Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis, there are only 3 women ministers, but they hold some of the most important government portfolios. Dora Bakoyannis for example is the first woman Foreign Minister of Greece. The other two prominent women are in charge of the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection, Minister Fany Palli- Petralia and Deputy Minister Sophia Kalantzakos.  Out of 300 MPs in the National Assembly, only 48 are women. It is a figure that corresponds to 16% of seats now held by females. The greek political scene has a long road to go to reach high female representation, such as the one that exists in Sweden  (47%).  According to a poll of RASS, published last March, 87,1% of Greeks believe that women can undertake government posts with success and 64,9% that politics would change for the better if more women participated. A majority of 63,9% recognize though that women have less opportunities than men in politics.  At this point, I think it is necessary to cite some important historical facts about the representation of women in Greece. In 1952, Greek women won the right to vote and ran for both local and general elections. Four years later, in 1956, Greece had her first woman elected in the government: Lina Tsaldari, Minister of Social Welfare. Nearly 25 years had gone by until Greeks trusted again a government post to a woman. Melina Merkouri became Minister of Culture in 1981 and left her indelible mark in Greek politics.  The good news is that since 1981, the percentages of female representation in parliament increases steadily. Today, Greek parliament has the highest ever female representation.  But the balance has not radically shifted and the chamber is still dominated by men. (Source: “Nea”).