Policies and actions by the Greek General Secretariat for Gender Equality on family issues (August 2017)

Aug 07, 2017

gpateropoulos

NEWS

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A. In Greece, the National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020, which constitutes an initiative taken by the General Secretariat for Gender Equality (GSGE), i.e. the governmental organization in charge of equality between women and men, comprises the following six policy areas with concrete objectives and distinctive synergies with competent stakeholders, covering in that way all fields of both public and private life (family issues included) in favour of young women and men, as well as girls and boys:

i) social inclusion and equal treatment of women facing multiple discrimination

ii) combating violence against women

iii) labour market, work-family reconciliation

iv) education, training, media, culture, sports

v) health

vi) equal participation of women in decision-making.

 

The National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020 has been included as a good practice in the 2016 Report on Equality between Women and Men in the European Union (European Commission, Brussels, March 2017): pages 51-52 of the EC Report  http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=43416 .

B. An “Observatory on Gender Equality” has been set up in the General Secretariat for Gender Equality.  The Flagship Project is entitled “Service organization for the integration, monitoring and evaluation of Gender Equality Policies in all aspects of Public Sector’s Actions” (Observatory); its aim is to support Public Administration and Local Authorities to design, implement and evaluate policies concerning gender equality through detailed data on equality issues (statistics and surveys) deriving from the development and function of relevant tools. Its structure is based on the 12 thematic  areas of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).

 

The European Commission has selected the specific Project as an example of good practice for the 2015 Annual Report on Equality between Women and Men in Europe (March 2016 – page 40, relevant link:  http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/annual_reports/2016_annual_report_2015_web_en.pdf ).

 

In January 2017 the sixth e-bulletin was circulated both in Greek and in English with statistical data on the following indicators:

 

– average age of women at birth of first child (in 2015 the average age was 31,3 years old compared with 31,0 years old in 2014)

 

– total fertility index (births in Greece amounted to 91.847 in 2015, a decrease of 0,3% compared with 2014).

 

Here are the links to the full text of the specific e-bulletin:

i) Greek version  http://old.isotita.gr/var/uploads/ANNOUNCEMENTS/2017/Paratiritirio%20GGIF%20-%206o%20Enimerotiko%20Simeioma.pdf;

ii) English version  http://old.isotita.gr/var/uploads/ANNOUNCEMENTS/2017/Obsevatory%20-%20Sixth%20e-bulletin%20-%20Women%20and%20Health_Jan2017.pdf.

C. The Greek political leadership in charge of gender equality has contacted a number of representatives of Ministries, Agencies and social partners aiming at a holistic approach to the implementation of gender equality policies. In the framework of these initiatiatives, the Secretary General for Gender Equality has already submitted to the competent Minister of Interior the final draft of a Bill on substantive gender equality, which is expected to be forwarded to the Hellenic Parliament for further elaboration and adoption.

 

Furthermore, the Secretary General for Gender Equality met the competent Minister of Labour, Social Security & Social Solidarity on 25-1-2017 and the agenda of the meeting included the issue of gender mainstreaming in the policies planned and implemented by the specific Ministry. Special emphasis was given to reconciliation of family and working life, as well as to the high percentage of female unemployment (link to the relevant GSGE press release in Greek only:

http://old.isotita.gr/var/uploads/DELTIA%20TYPOU/2017/Jan/DT_26-01-2017_Synantisi%20tis%20GGIF%20me%20tin%20Ypourgo%20Ergasias.pdf ).

D. The GSGE implements a comprehensive programme of information and awareness-raising campaigns throughout the year under the initiative and guidance of the competent Director for Development & Support of Policies on Gender Equality.

On 10-1-2017 the governmental organization in charge of equality between women and men in Greece widely publicized the recent study of the European Parliament on demography and family policies in the European Union (Brussels, December 2016, relevant link from the E.P. website:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/571394/IPOL_STU%282016%29571394_EN.pdf ).

 

More specifically:

 

A detailed article written by the competent GSGE Director on the topic has already been uploaded both on the Greek and the English pages of our website on the internet and the facebook with positive reaction by citizens, both men and women. Special emphasis has been given to the fact that the study was made by a Greek scholar at the London School of Economics & Political Science, that is Dr Konstantina Davaki, as well as to the segments on the Greek situation (pages 27 and 30 of the printed version of the study)

 

Although the article is in Greek, you will easily recognize the direct link to the study from the website of the European Parliament. As far as the facebook page is concerned, you will see the cover page of the E.P./FEMM study at once. The relevant links are the following:

a) Greek page of our website:  http://old.isotita.gr/index.php/news/2963;

b) English page of our website: http://old.isotita.gr/en/index.php/news/637and http://old.isotita.gr/en/index.php/news/638 ;

c) our page on the facebook:

– https://www.facebook.com/pages/%CE%93%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CE%93%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B5%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CE%99%CF%83%CF%8C%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%82-%CF%84%CF%89%CE%BD-%CE%A6%CF%8D%CE%BB%CF%89%CE%BD/388822604594196?ref=hl

– https://www.facebook.com/388822604594196/photos/a.389291394547317.1073741828.388822604594196/841463315996787/?type=3&theater .

In addition, the relevant GSGE document has already been communicated by us to a number of public organizations and independent bodies in Greece. The recipients of our document have been, among others, the Hellenic Parliament, the Greek Ombudsman, the National Commission for Human Rights, the General Secretariat of the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Representations of Greece to the International Organizations, the Ministry of Economy & Development, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Administrative Reconstruction, the Ministry of Education, Research & Religious Affairs, the General Secretariat for Research & Technology, the National Centre for Social Research, the Ministry of Labour, Social Security & Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Culture & Sports, the Ministry of Justice, Transparency & Human Rights, the Ministry of Rural Development, as well as all the key social partners.

 

In that way, further promotion and greater visibility of the pivotal role of family policies on equality between women and men have been achieved by our initiative among competent Greek stakeholders.

 

 

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