Those who thought that the Greeks behave almost like… pashas and leave all the responsibilities and obligations of housework and home care to their wives have been proven right.

As Secretary General for Gender Equality Vasso Kollia underlined on Tuesday at a conference hosted by the Confederation of Family Organisations in the European Union (COFACE) and the Family and Child Care Center (KMOP) in Athens, Greece has the second lowest position in the EU after Portugal in certain measures making up the composite Gender Equality Index.

According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), an average of 77% of women and 24% of men are systematically involved in housework and home care in the EU, compared with Greece’s 78% and 9% respectively.

The secretary general noted that women become trapped in the role of the “super woman” and in times of economic crisis they seek additional sources of income to support their family more dynamically than men while, at the same time, they are still exclusively responsible for the care of their families. Men, on the other hand, tend not to alter their work habits and attitudes. Moreover, while women are more educated than men (60% of university graduates are women) only a few occupy top places in academic institutions or in the sectors of business and research.

General Secretary of Welfare and former general secretary for gender equality Efi Bekou referred to new policies that are being implemented seeking family-work reconciliation.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Health and former general secretary for gender equality Zeta Makri underlined the impact of the economic crisis on institutions like family and work, noting that the crisis has led to more violence against women in the form of harassment at the workplace, domestic violence or violent behaviors in general.

The conference on “Families in the Crisis – Finding work-life balance in a difficult economic context” is one of the highlight events of COFACE’s Year for Reconciling Work and Family Life in Europe thematic work programme over the course of 2014 and is held in close cooperation with the Greek EU Presidency.

Austerity measures and cuts to social services, women’s participation in the labour market, and how work and family life reconciliation can work under economic stress were among the topics addressed, as well as, childcare, family solidarity in times of crisis and the outlook for young people and their future families.