Maria Stratigaki, Deputy Mayor for Social Solidarity & Equality of the Municipality of Athens, spoke about the issues, trends and problems encountered in addressing gender discrimination and implementing gender equality policies in Local Government, speaking in the context of the “1st Diversity Conference for Local Government” (Diversity in Cities), which took place yesterday (26/02) at the Technopolis of the Municipality of Athens.
In the corresponding section, which was moderated by the director of the website Newsbeast.gr, Viktoras Montzelis , Ms. Stratigaki emphasized that for her it is self-evident that ” solutions are enriched when society is diverse ” and when ” society can be enriched with different situations, opinions and interests ” and that ” efforts to overcome gender discrimination should focus on how we will convince people of how beneficial it is for “our society to be diverse in order to listen, integrate, incorporate, and include opinions, trends and interests .”
For Ms. Stratigaki , “ not to discriminate includes the concept of not doing something against someone .” As she emphasized, the EU has “ contributed with its policies in this direction, since 1997, when it included in its Charter the fight against discrimination based on the six points of non-discrimination .” Ms. Stratigaki characterized this event as a historic moment , because “ while until then only gender was considered a factor of discrimination in the labor market, since then the basis and scope of discrimination have expanded and today it has become a state law prohibiting discrimination” and therefore, “municipalities are coming to implement legal obligations .”
Ms. Stratigaki pointed out, however, that for the degree of TA, “Kallikratis” ” is not clear in terms of the clear description of discrimination, the clarity arises from the central laws “, with the result that “each municipality implements it differently”. ” We exhaust our imagination to implement such policies, formally and legally we do not have the ability, but after the immigration issue we became aware and were called upon to substitute for the central state “, Ms. Stratigaki underlined, adding that ” municipalities are the vanguard in all six principles of non-discrimination”, which concern “gender, in its broadest sense, discrimination based on sexual orientation, national origin and race, immigration, age – and for this reason there is special care for daycare centers -, disability and accessibility, even for temporarily incapacitated individuals “.
Ms. Stratigaki pointed out that the difference between the private and public sectors in the implementation of inclusion ” is the motivation, as the private sector, by proposing the economic incentive, transforms its strategy when there is awareness in society “, while municipalities ” come to satisfy social needs” and regarding awareness, “they want to create an inclusive environment and not for communication reasons “.
As Ms. Stratigaki emphasized, “the labor market is directly linked to the abuse of women, gender-based violence and against LGBTQI+ communities, as “women must be able to react without having financial consequences .” For this reason, “this is where the shelters for women come in, which we should support, along with the municipality’s job centers to find work for victims of abuse.”
The far-right may be growing at a local level, but local government institutions are holding up
The deputy mayor emphasized that “ the world would be better if gender were not a reason for differentiation between people and a reason for exercising power (of men over women) ”. As she emphasized, “ the influence of gender on what we think and act, on the distribution of work and wealth, must change, we must have desires and interests throughout life without being subject to the shackles of gender ”. In this area, Ms. Stratigaki emphasized that she is optimistic because there is a “change in the new generation in how fatherhood is treated, for example, which gives us some hope of optimism”, because in this way “the stereotypes we have will slowly change” and there “ the support of the municipality with policies is needed, but above all a personal change is also needed ” things that, phew!, “require a lot of time”.
Ms. Stratigaki added that “empathy is very important, because we are not only structures, but also people” and the “connection of politics and personnel ”, of the T.A. as “ an institution that motivates you is a continuous mutual feed-back, it is inextricably linked to the personnel ”. She added that there we must also see the role of the EU “ because the concepts of inclusion, of diversity, came through the EU, as we have a delay in the Greek reality to integrate some concepts into our society, which is still of an “oriental” character ”.
Referring to the trends of regression at the international level in the field of combating discrimination after the prevalence of authoritarian and ultra-conservative governments, Ms. Stratigaki emphasized that ” there is fear, of reactionary governments, but local government can withstand a little more because it is close to the people” , citing the example of Austria, where Vienna became a model of inclusion, resisting setbacks in rights. ” The far right may be growing at a local level, but local government institutions are enduring “, she emphasized.
