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Major Gender Work Issues in Present Day Greece

Do Greek women encounter problems in the workplace?

YES!!!

There are MANY work related issues women are dealing with on a daily basis. This page focuses solely on the gender issues in the workplace, and the various reasons why these problems still exist in Greece today.

Greek women and problems in the workplace

Subordination of Greek Women

There are many gender issues in Greece because women are still viewed as subordinate to men. The government has issued numerous laws to help provide equality to women regarding the hiring practices. Specifically Greece has a law which calls for the equal treatment of men and women for equal compensation for doing the same work. However, many times these laws are disregarded and there is still a great amount of discrimination against women in the labor market. Women are considered to have a lower status than men in the workplace because...

  • The percentage of managerial posts held by men is disproportionately high, when compared to women with the same education and working experience
  • Even though women are more educated than men and have the same number of years of actual labor market experience, they are still treat as lower citizens compared to men, and receive lower wages
  • It has been reported that men earn higher wages than do women, where women have higher average years of schooling than men, and the average years of actual labor market experience were equal between women and men

Women are Easily Replaced

Women have to fight harder in order to get a job and to keep it because they are easily replaceable by the numerous migrant workers. Also, once a woman gets a job, she has to work harder to prove herself worthy of the job because...

  • Women receive, on average, 65% of what men receive for the same positions, and hold less than 3% of the top executive positions.
  • Women are seen as expendable, easily replaced with migrant workers, while men are seen as very important and are not easily replaced.

An interesting link to see recent reports regarding Greece on various topics including migration, labor trends and human rights. This also has a link to the US department Foreign Labor Trend report which has good information about Greek labor trends.

http://www.antigone.gr/list.htm

Greece and the European Union

Greece is a member of the European Union (EU). However, when Greece is compared to the EU it is lagging way behind in regards to gender work issues...

  • Female labor participation in Greece is 49.2% in 2002, which is significantly lower than the EU average of 60.8%.
  • In 2003 women made up only 39% of the Greek work force.

An interesting link to find more information on Greece and the EU is www.childpolicyintl.org

Some Solutions may include:

1) In order for women to begin to gain equality to men in the areas of work, family friendly policies need to be created, and enforced that allow women more rights in the area of the work force. Furthermore, policies concerning equal hiring of women and men, and equal pay for both genders.

2) The gender work conflicts in Greece stem from the traditional view of women in this society. Many believe women should maintain the role of a homemaker and should not work outside the home, yet this idea of a woman's job description is outdated. Therefore, adopting a more gender equal view would help aid in combating gender inequality in Greek society.

3) When compared to the EU, women in Greece are more poorly paid than anywhere else. Therefore, simply stated Greece needs to raise women's salaries in order to make it equal for both genders, especially considering Greek women are usually better educated and have more experience.

Conclusion

Overall, in Greece, women are viewed as lower than men and this is seen in the gender work issues because women receive lower pay, discrimination from obtaining jobs, and severe job insecurity. While the government has attempted to pass laws in order to help the gender inequality in Greece, there has yet to be any enforcement of these laws.

Sources:

  • Papalexandris, Nancy and Dimitris Bourantas. 1991. "Attitudes Towards Women as Managers: The Case of Greece." International Journal of Human Resource Management 2(2):133-146.
  • Theodossopoulos, Dimitrios. 1999. "The Pace of Work and the Logic of the Harvest: Women, Labour and the Olive Harvest in a Greek Island Community." Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 5(4):611-626.
  • US Department of Labor. 2003. Foreign Labor Trends. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
  • Columbia University. 2006. "The Clearinghouse on International Developments in Child, Youth and Family Policies." Retrieved October 29, 2006 (www.childpolicyintl.org).
  • Partrinos, Harry A and Lambropolous, Haris S. 1993. "Gender Discrimination in the Greek Labor Market." Education Economics 1(2):153-164.