Towards the end of the 1980s, feminist demands had achieved considerable success. At the institutional level, the laws on equality had steeped into the legal culture of Greece, despite some remaining inequalities under the applicable legal framework. Discriminatory behaviours against women -when identified- acquired a rather social character. The feminism of the period of transition to democracy (Metapolitefsi) managed to identify discriminatory behaviours and to link them with the dominance relationships between men and women. However, for large part of the population, discrimination against women still remained in place and was considered to be perfectly normal. As regards social practices, tensions often co-existed with tendencies to perpetuate gender hierarchies and attempts to change or overturn them. The feminism of the Metapolitefsi affected some perceptions and practices. However, sexism remained in place as an ideological and social rule.
By the 1990s most feminist voices of the Metapolitefsi had gone silent. Many autonomous groups were dissolved, feminist journals stopped being published and the presence of women in the streets of Athens and other major cities became increasingly scarce. Feminists sought the causes of this silence and started to refer to a “crisis” of the feminist movement.
Women’s organisations continued to operate, influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the feminist discourse and practices. In that period, actions to address the female issue were taken under the initiative of the European Union (EU) and international organisations. A series of directives on equal opportunities between men and women were adopted by the EU and programmes for raising awareness, preventing and combating violence against women through the promotion of equality policies were put in place. In this context, it is worth noting that women’s networks were created at the EU level and that support was granted to studies on gender and equality in Greek Universities.
