A better gift for Greek fathers in the runup to Father’s Day on June 21 could hardly be envisaged. Greece’s justice minister, Constantine Tsiaras, announced the preparation of a civil rights bill for the reform of Greek family law, whose last substantive revision dates back to the PASOK (Panhellentic Socialist Movement) years of the early 1980s.[1]
Not that current Greek family law is terribly bad. PASOK’s courageous reform of 1982-83, established gender equality and threw into the dustbin of history women’s discrimination at all levels. However, with the passage of time, problems cropped up with the implementation of the law, as judges, influenced by the dominant sexist culture – according to which fathers were seen as unfit to look after their children – were overwhelmingly assigning custody to mothers only. For a mother to lose custody in Greek Courts meant that she had either to be proved to be a “sex worker” or a “drug addict”.
Shared parenting, as a presumption in law, was never considered and feminist groups within left-wing parties never pressed for that. A common perception cutting across Greek civil society was the belief that it is not in the best interests of the child to become a little ping-pong ball bouncing from one parental home to another. Thus, a “judges code” was created assigning custody to mothers only and visitation rights to fathers – usually once or twice a week for 3-4 hours and only during the day. Overnight stay with the father once a week was and remains exceptional. This practice, notorious not only in Greece but everywhere in the world where joint custody is not a presumption in law, fomented a number of side effects –at the same time that it created first-and-second class citizens.
