Welcome to the Gender, Work & Family Homepage!

Here you will find an introduction and links to

information about the current status of these issues in Greece.

Purpose

The purpose of this site is to provide general information about the status of gender, work and family in Greece. The information posted here is a compliation of individual research conducted by four sociology students over a period of six weeks. Our research, although by no means exhaustive, is comprised from reputable sources and the most up-to-date information we were able to obtain within the limited time and scope of this project.

Introduction

Greece became the 10th member state of the European Union (EU) in 1981. This transition has brought many positive changes for Greek families and for the country in general, such as an increase in women's labor participation, as well as an expansion of government protections and programs to help working families. However, Greece has long been a place of traditional gender roles, meaning that men and women have distinctinct roles both within the home and without. Men are expected to work outside the home for money, or if they have a family business, the work that men do is considered most important. Women are largely expected to stay at home, care for the family, and work in jobs that are considered more marginal and less important than men's jobs by family members as well as many of the members of the larger society.

This arrangement has lead to a widespread gender inequality in Greece that hinders the country's attempts to move forward. As you will see, gender, work and family issues are at the forefront of day-to-day life in Greece; and although, the country has made some progress, it still has a long way to go before some of its most marginalized citizens experience full equality.

What will you find on this site?

We've done our best to provide you with the most up-to date and accurate information reguarding the following topics:

• gender inequality in the home and at work

• family-work policies

• childcare issues/policies

• laws, agencies and organizations

• issues specific to immigrants and their families

• general information about Greece and its history

We also provide a link to websites about other EU countries reguarding similar issues. These sites were built by fellow students and may be of interest for comparison to Greece and its progress, or you may just find them useful and interesting in their own right. We hope you enjoy this site as much as we did putting it together.

You can find out more general information about Greece and its transition into the EU at the US Dept of State Website: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3395.htm

References:

US Dept of State. 2006. "Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Background Note: Greece." U.S. Dept of State Website. Retreived, Nov /19, 2006 (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3395.htm).