The general secretaries of the three largest parliamentary parties took part in an open dialogue on the contribution of factions to increase the representation of women in politics, which took place on Thursday, December 15, as part of the Women CANdidates platform.

The event opened with a taped address from the Cultural Affairs Officer of the US Embassy in Athens. Shanna Dietz – Surendraand the dialogue was conducted by an ERT journalist, head of the news broadcasting subdirectory, Adriana Paraskevopoulou.

In fact, in her opening remarks, Ms. Paraskevopoulou specifically mentioned the current percentage of women in the political life of our country, which is particularly low. In particular, 16% is the percentage of women in the cabinet, 22% in parliament, 21% in regional and city councils, while out of a total of 332 municipalities in the country, only 19 of these mayors are women.

Secretary of the New Democracy Political Committee Pavlos Marinakis, Secretary of the Central Committee of SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance Rania Svigou and Secretary of the Central Political Committee of PASOK-Movement for Change Andreas Spyropoulos.

The discussion centered on the issue of the quota and whether it actually works as an incentive, and party representatives were asked how they themselves would encourage women to participate in politics.

As Mr. Pavlos Marinakis “For more women to participate in politics, they need to see that policies are being implemented that help their own daily lives.”

“The debate should not only be about the quota and ballots – they are both very important, I do not underestimate them. After all, in our party in many regions they want to exceed the quota, and in some prefectures it is men who cover at least 40% of the candidates. Our goal and our direction is to find even more deserving women to run in elections, and I think the debate now and in the coming years is really about what each party’s agenda is for women. To have real equality and real equal opportunities,” he added.

At the same time, Ms. Rania Svigu acknowledged that “the representation of women is extremely low in all political decision-making structures”, and further stated that “the quota measure alone cannot change either social reality or decades of attitudes. Because, in itself, the quantitative and equal presence of women certainly does not mean the elimination of exclusion, inequality and sexism, which can also be found in the political sphere.” According to him, “the institutionalization at the recent SYRIZA-PS conference of equal representation of men and women in all party bodies and committees, and not just in the field of nominations, is a breakthrough.”

For my part, Mr. Andreas Spiropoulos he stressed that “in the run-up to 2023, it is even alarming to talk today about an increase in female representation.” “What we need to do is to provide women with the political, economic, social and working conditions that enable them to participate in society and make autonomous choices. And also to create conditions under which society will support, trust and value women participating in politics, free from prevailing sexist gender stereotypes, for their role in the public and private spheres,” he noted. He also pointed out the need for thorough and continuous training women who want to get involved in politics.

It is worth noting that all three secretaries emphasized the importance of the event and described it as an opportunity to open a meaningful dialogue about women’s participation in politics, about the causes that hinder them and how they will be eliminated.