Legal guarantee of gender equality and women’s institutional rights is required in order to ensure that democracy is not hindered by direct or indirect discrimination, as well as to combat practices that infringe upon the principle of gender equality and harm women’s dignity.

Legislative Committees have been established to draft provisions to improve and enhance existing legislation. Such committees shall recommend legislative interventions, aiming at: a) improving family law, b) combating violence against women, and c) promoting substantive gender equality. The Committees shall take into consideration the views expressed by women’s organisations, the provisions of recent International and European Conventions and other official instruments (UN, European Council, EU), as well legislation by other European countries, such as Spanish Laws: a) “Framework Law on Integrated protective measures against gender violence” (2004) and b) “Framework Law on substantive equality between men and women” (2007).

Supplementary tools shall be used to foster most effective application of legislation, such as:

  • codification of gender equality legislation (PROJECT 1),
  • a priori systematic gender impact assessment of new bills, as foreseen in the GSGE Project related to gender mainstreaming in public policies (PROJECT 2),
  • cooperation with the Ombudsman and the Consumer’s Counsel in relation to the implementation of laws on equal treatment of men and women in the labor market (Law 3488/2008) and access to goods and services (Law 3769/2009).

 

More specifically, the work of Legislative Committees is as follows:

1.            Amendment of Family Law

Family Law shall be amended so as to be fully harmonised with the Constitutional Principle of Gender Equality and the protection of women’s rights within the context of the unequal economic and social conditions under which most women currently live. Indicatively, proposed provisions shall address the following issues:

  • Re-introduction of permanence of spouses’ surnames.
  • Modernisation of the legal provisions on adoption.
  • Ensuring alimony payment.
  • Unification and expedition of court procedures vis-a-vis hearing of Family Law cases.
  • Children’s’ last name acquisition to ensure gender equality.
  • Issues of parental responsibility in divorce cases.
  • Amendments in the cohabitation agreement.


2.            Law on combating violence against women

Violence is a harsh expression of social inequality. Violence against women is gender-based violence, since it is inextricably linked to the victim’s and offender’s gender. New legislative provisions on combating violence against women shall place emphasis on awareness and protection measures for victims. They shall refer to all forms of violence committed against women, physically, psychologically, verbally and morally. In parallel, legislation shall focus on safeguarding victims’ rights, such as their right to be informed and to free legal assistance, their right to employment and social insurance, their economic rights, etc.

The preparation of a Unified Bill on violence against women reflects the cross-sectional character of gender violence and is an internationally accepted method for legislative addressing of the multiple and complex aspects of such criminal activities that penetrate all aspects of everyday life. More specifically:

Domestic violence: improvement of Law 3500/2006 on domestic violence and enhancement of the framework addressing domestic violence by creating support centres for victims and offering them temporary refuge.

Employment-related violence: improvement and enhancement of Law 3488/2006 in relation to the implementation of the principle of equal treatment of men and women in labour market access, with a special chapter on sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.

Social violence: improvement and enhancement of legislation addressing crimes such as rape (Law 1419/1984) and human trafficking (Law 3064/2002 and P.D. 233/2003). Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. (Warsaw, 2005) and of the European Council Convention on Violence against Women, which is currently being elaborated, shall be included in the Bill.

In addition, some cross-cutting issues shall be also addressed:

  • Enhancement of the GSGE institutional role (Consultation Centres) in the confrontation of violence against women in all of its forms and protection of the victims,
  • Expansion of provisions on legal assistance to victims in cooperation with Bar Associations,
  • Establishment of a National Observatory on combating violence against women.

 

3.            Law on the promotion of substantive legal equality

The proposed bill is grounded in the cross-cutting dimension of gender equality, which constitutes the most common approach of anti-discrimination modern law. The innovations of the proposed bill include the establishment of active polices for the effectuation of the principle of gender equality (gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting, gender proofing), the promotion of the equality principle at all levels of economic, social and cultural activity, and - most importantly - the creation of policy making and results assessment mechanisms. The provisions shall indicatively include:

  • More effective protection against discrimination and enhancement of equal treatment in employment and in access to goods and services;
  • Promotion of equal treatment and equal opportunities, as well as removal of gender stereotypes in the field of education;
  • Improvement of mass media legislation vis-a-vis women’s dignity in TV shows and commercials;
  • Effective implementation of the principle of gender equality in public policies and active intervention of Ministries in the implementation and monitoring of gender policy impacts;
  • Ensuring of balanced participation of men and women in decision-making, with the aim of improved representation and, therefore, improved democracy;
  • Provision of motivation for promoting enterprises’ social responsibility re: gender equitable promotion;
  • Reformation of the institutional framework that governs: a) the National Committee on equality between men and women and b) the Inter-ministerial Committee on gender mainstreaming.