STATE OF ART IN GREEK FAMILY HOW GENDER ROLES INFLUENCE THE UPGRINGING OF CHILDERN

FACTS Couples with children: 89.1% Married couples with two children: 42.3% Highest percentages in Europe Low divorce rates and low percentage of births outside marriage Lowest percentages in Europe Source: (Greek family from a comparative perspective, Papadopoulos 1996)

MEANING… Strong attachment of Greeks to family Greeks are supportive of the institution of family Top priority on the value scale

STATISTICS The activity rate of married women aged between 25 and 49 years old is the lowest in EU Female part time employment : 8,4 % of total female employment Eu average: 31.3 % Greek Female unemployment higher than the EU average of 12, 5 % A pattern of dependency and power relationships among the members of family emerges *Source: Eurostat

There is still the belief that the public sphere of work and the private sphere of family constitutes two different spheres This means that Men are engaged mostly in public sphere Women are engaged mostly in private sphere

CHANGES DURING THE YEARS A series of ideological changes have taken place in respect of the social roles within the family Have influenced gender roles within and outside the household Transition of extended family system to nuclear family system Shift from traditional gender roles to more egalitarian gender roles within the household Increase of women’s participation in labor market

BACKGROUND INFORMATION In Greece, the family represents the central social institution and provider of social support.  Greece is dominated by traditional family roles and households, and seems to have the strongest attachment to the traditional family type out of all European countries.  Within these families, specifically working-class families, the household structure has been associated with gender relations within the family.  In other words, families aim for secure control within the family by orienting different family members to different tasks according to gender division of roles inside the family.  Men are expected to take on jobs that make them the main income earner. Women are expected to be secondary income earners, placing household duties as their priority.  In creating this separation of gender roles, women become the sole caretaker of children and elderly family members.

GENDER ROLES IN FAMILY Research Findings* “THE PROOF” There is an explicit segregation in male and female activities Sovereign role of man is that of the breadwinner Woman’s role is the one of the caring person cause of the specific distribution of tasks Both sexes are faced differently by boys and girls ,as far as their social behavior is concerned Man seems to be the strongest image for both girls and boys What it was investigated: Distribution of tasks in family Whether boys and girls have different perceptions for sexes in regards to the distribution of family tasks Which gender dominates in the decision making process of the family *Background of the research: Methodology: Quantitative Research Sample: Primary Scholl Children (25 boys – 30 girls) Source: ‘The science of Education on line’, Vol 1,Issue 2,(1998)

Greece has long been a place of traditional gender roles and STILL IS: THE REALITY Greece has long been a place of traditional gender roles and STILL IS: Men and women have distinct 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 that hinders the family’s attempts to move forward and to educate children in more anti-stereotype process

WHAT CAN BE DONE Men taking the lead Need to play a more pro-active role as fathers and home-makers Attitudinal changes More flexible working time arrangements Redistribution of personal time

Family protection measures Better public nurseries under Local Authorities More children’s Creative Occupation Centers More private baby farms Better and more state –owned Kindergardens (regular and day-long) More day long elementary schools

New models of work From the supervision to the coordination of work From regular working hours to the individual organization of work From hierarchically-organized to Project and Team-Oriented work From vocational education to life long learning

Entrepreneurial equality plans Increase of worker’s satisfaction Reservation of professional evolution Balance between work and family, resulting in the development of a working environment of high performance, worker-friendly and especially women-friendly.

Higher support of governmental policies The lack of support reflects and reproduces certain attitudes with regard to family institution and its’ processes

The effective combination of the above ‘measures’ presupposes the existence of guarding and educating children structures

For More Information: www.dimitra.gr George PETROU