Gender Inequalities in Rural European Communities During 19th and Early 20th Century

Abstract

This book can be considered as a sequel of another book that I wrote on nineteenthcentury women's history in Greece and was published in 2013. It was after its publication when I conceived the idea that conducting research and writing a book about women of Southern Europe in nineteenth to early twentieth centuries would be a good project, as women shared a lot of similarities in their difficult everyday life. My family encouraged me in this endeavor because they saw that the book would serve as a way of expressing modern women's gratitude and admiration to these anonymous female persons of the past.From this position I thank the following people: My good friends and colleagues Professor Gianfranco Bandini (University of Firenze, Italy) for his sound advice, Professor Simonetta Polenghi (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy) for providing me with useful bibliography, and my friend Dr. Heleni Perdicoyanni-Paleologou (Senior Research Fellow -Adjunct Professor of Classics, USA) for her comments. I also wish to express my thanks to the anonymous reviewers of this book for their valuable suggestions. Also, many thanks must be addressed to the publishing companies of Gutenberg, Hestia, Rowman & Littlefield, the Ethnologiko Mouseio Thrakis, as well as the individual persons: Prof. Vassilios Sabatakakis (Lund University), Prof. I. Bouzakis (University of Patras), Dr. S. Zervas, and Mr. N. Nikolizas for granting me permission to use some material and photographs. But above of all, I owe many thanks to my husband -Tony -for his forbearance in the long hours that I spent on research and on writing this book. ix

Sex ratios and gender discrimination in Modern Greece

“…At least until the 1960s, women's agency in rural Greece was rather limited, and was restricted to rigid gender roles (Friedl 1967;Stott 1973;Hionidou 1995;Thanailaki 2018). In the nineteenth century, women were socially defined by their natural attributes as wives and mothers, confined to the private sphere, and regarded as second-class citizens (Avdela 2005, p. 117;Tzanake 2009, p. 128;Varikas 2011, p. 62).…”