What are the reasons of violence against women in Greece?

The Greek Research Center on Equality Matters (KETHI) stressed that violence against women is not caused by poverty and unemployment in Greece. Rather, the cause for violence against women is the fact that Greek society does not recognize substantial equality between men and women in every day life.,as they recognize and tolerate the presence of homosexuality in Greek society. Violence against women is easily excused, at least more than any other form of violence is excused, and many times the victim is accused of provoking such violence.. Men learn that it is their right to control the mind, heart and life of their women, and learn to feel security when their companion is dependent and submitted. A completely independent female companion breeds insecurity since it is not her priority to make a man happy. Women themselves learn to be submissive, to be patient with violence, to remain silent and not demanding. As a result, there is a lack of solidarity among women who experience violence that reinforces inactivity against violence.
It has been estimated that 83% of Greek women has suffered from some form of domestic abuse, either psychological or physical; 16% of these women have experienced psychological, physical and sexual violence together.

http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/...

You can thumbs down me but you cannot silence me!!
Of course there IS violence against women in Greece, at least that I remember. Working in an ENT (ear nose throat) emergency room in a large hospital in Greece I often encountered broken noses, cuts and bloody faces of women, all results of "domestic dispute". We would just patch up their faces the best we could from the physical scars...(the emotional were a different story) and send them home again...
That was more than 25 years ago.Nobody talked about the details then, there were no other ways to protect those women, no shelters to hide them, no reports, nothing. Women were dependent on their husbands financially and were afraid to go against them
Now, I am not sure where the issue is standing as I am away from Greece for long time. I honestly hope there is great progress and support to women. I would like to see shelters and insitutions being developed to protect women from their husbands, if it still is a problem in Greece (and why it shouldn't be? the sons learn from their fathers).
I would like to see action taken and not just keep numbers and statistics.
Greece cannot afford to have another woman,victim of domestic violence, become another statistic.
For the rest of you who hide your head in the sand I have to say one thing: Wake up and look around you!!! Maybe you are too ignorant to face reality or you dont want to accept responsibility of your actions and plain deny it.Domestic abuse happens all over this planet, Greece is not an exception. Until we educate our young and show them the right behavior by example, until we take measures and built shelters and laws against it,domestic abuse is not going to go away
Waiting to hear from women in Greece what the situation is now, I am not interested on numbers and percentages, I want to hear from real women who either experienced or witnessed domestic violence. How it affected them,their children and families and how are they coping now..It would be interesting to discuss in here,let's see who dares bring it up in the open...or email me for private discussion
I sure hope things have changed in Greece in recent years, it has been a quarter of century already!!!

eleni_g: This is a quote from the same atricle you are referring to:
螣喂 蔚位位畏谓委未蔚蟼 纬蠀谓伪委魏蔚蟼 胃蠉渭伪蟿伪 尾委伪蟼 蟺慰蠀 魏伪蟿苇蠁蠀纬伪谓 蟽蔚 螝苇谓蟿蟻慰 蟽蟿畏 渭蔚纬伪位蠉蟿蔚蟻畏 蟺位蔚喂慰谓蠈蟿畏蟿伪 伪谓萎魏慰蠀谓 蟽蟿畏谓 畏位喂魏喂伪魏萎 慰渭维未伪 45-55 蔚蟿蠋谓. 螝伪喂 苇蠂慰蠀谓 蠀蟺慰蟽蟿蔚委 蠈位蔚蟼 蟿喂蟼 渭慰蟻蠁苇蟼 尾委伪蟼.

* 韦慰 73% 蟽蠅渭伪蟿喂魏萎 魏伪喂 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏萎 尾委伪.

* 韦慰 15,1% 蟽蔚尉慰蠀伪位喂魏萎 魏伪喂 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏萎 尾委伪.

* 韦慰 11,9% 渭蠈谓慰 蠄蠀蠂慰位慰纬喂魏萎 尾委伪.

螣喂 纬蠀谓伪委魏蔚蟼 伪蠀蟿萎蟼 蟿畏蟼 畏位喂魏喂伪魏萎蟼 慰渭维未伪蟼 苇蠂慰蠀谓 蟽蠀渭尾喂蠋蟽蔚喂 渭蔚 蟿慰谓 未蟻维蟽蟿畏 蟺维谓蠅 伪蟺蠈 20 蠂蟻蠈谓喂伪 纬维渭慰蠀, 苇蠂慰蠀谓 蔚尉伪谓蟿位萎蟽蔚喂 蠈位伪 蟿伪 蠈蟻喂伪 蟿畏蟼 伪谓蟿慰蠂萎蟼 蟿慰蠀蟼, 蟽蠀蠂谓维 渭蔚 蟿委渭畏渭伪 蟿畏 蟽蠅渭伪蟿喂魏萎 魏伪喂 蟿畏谓 蠄蠀蠂喂魏萎 蟿慰蠀蟼 蠀纬蔚委伪. 韦畏谓 魏慰喂谓蠅谓喂魏萎 伪蟺慰渭蠈谓蠅蟽畏. 韦畏谓 伪蟺慰蠂蠋蟻畏蟽畏 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蔚蟻纬伪蟽委伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 蠉蟽蟿蔚蟻伪 伪蟺蠈 伪蟺伪委蟿畏蟽畏-伪蟺伪纬蠈蟻蔚蠀蟽畏 蟿慰蠀 未蟻维蟽蟿畏. 韦畏谓 伪蟺慰渭维魏蟻蠀谓蟽畏 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰 维渭蔚蟽慰 慰喂魏慰纬蔚谓蔚喂伪魏蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 蟺蔚蟻喂尾维位位慰谓. 螝伪喂 蟿畏 蟽蠉纬魏蟻慰蠀蟽畏, 蟿畏谓 伪蟺蠈蟻蟻喂蠄畏 伪蟺蠈 蟿伪 蟺伪喂未喂维-蔚蠁萎尾慰蠀蟼, 蟺慰蠀 蟽蟿喂蟼 蟺蔚蟻喂蟽蟽蠈蟿蔚蟻蔚蟼 蟺蔚蟻喂蟺蟿蠋蟽蔚喂蟼 魏伪蟿伪位慰纬委味慰蠀谓 蟿畏谓 蔚蠀胃蠉谓畏 蟽蔚 蔚魏蔚委谓畏 纬喂伪 蠈蟽伪 苇蠂慰蠀谓 尾喂蠋蟽蔚喂 蟽蟿畏谓 慰喂魏慰纬苇谓蔚喂伪.

Are Greek women refusing to face the truth???
If so, how do we expect men to change their behavior????

If women don't speak up about this how we expect men to change their behavior?
As you see from some of the men's answers and thumbs down is that they just want to silence our voices.Are women going to "listen" to them? Report It

By presenting fake facts and presenting women as always been victims doesn't help at all!! Report It

Further more the numbers that presented as sourced from KETHI are completely wrong! Report It

If you bother to check the KETHI site you would have read the following: Report It

"The issue of domestic violence was raised by the Women's Movement at the beginning of the 1970s in Europe and the USA and somewhat later in Greece after the political changeover when independent women's groups with feminist demands were formed." Report It

And the following :
"Since then, many of the demands of women's movement have been achieved and approaches to pursuing others have changed." Report It

And of course the research is clear and completely disagrees with the numbers you gave!:
鈥淎ccording to the results of the research, 56% (and not 86%) of the women INTERVIEWED, Report It

have experienced verbal and/or psychological violence,
3,6% suffered physical abuse and 3,5% were forced in sexual contact. Report It

Moreover, 23,6% of women mentioned that they were familiar with another woman from their related and/or friendly environment who has been or is a victim of domestic violence from the spouse/intimate partner. Report It

Finally, only 8,8% considers their spouse/intimate partners as violent.鈥? Report It

Next time try to use real facts and make sure that you don鈥檛 use as a source such biased and heavily controlled organizations such as Helsinki monitor watch! Report It

(An American made organizations whose only purpose was to promote 鈥淎merican values鈥?to the former communist countries). Report It

Further more the violence against men by women is always ignored! As if men simply don't exist or they are always violent primitive animals! Report It

There is the 1985 National Family Violence Survey of 6,000 cases, funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, conducted by Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles at the University of New Hampshire. Report It

Between 1975 and 1985, male-against-female domestic violence decreased, while women's violence against men INCREASED. Report It

The majority of women assume the female violence is only reaction to male attackers.
Actually NO! Report It

No, says the National Family Violence Council: "The fact that women had higher mean and median rates for severe violence suggests that female aggression is not merely a response to male aggression.鈥? Report It

A 1984 issue of the Justice Quarterly says that in domestic violence, women compensate for their size by using weapons. Report It

In 6,200 domestic abuse cases, 86 percent of women who assaulted men used weapons: guns, knives, boiling water, bricks, fireplace pokers and baseball bats. Only a quarter of men who assaulted women used weapons. Report It

Although it seem strange after surveying murder cases in large urban counties in 1988, the U.S. Department of Justice reported Report It

that women made up more than half the defendants (55 percent) in cases involving parents killing their offspring. (1994-95 U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics Publications Catalog, publication #. NCJ 43498, 鈥淢urder in Families.鈥? Report It

In May,2000,the Justice Department loudly announced the good news about domestic violence: in the years 1993 and 1998, the rate at which American women were attacked or threatened by loved ones (husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends) declined 21 percent. Report It

BUT the number of men who were attacked by wives or girlfriends remained stable, with 160,000 attacks both years!!!! Report It

But the abuses committed -- and untold -- by women are widescale. Women are responsible for one-third of the sexual abuse of boys, according to the Dec. 2, 1998 Journal of the American Medical Association. Report It

Matt Vegh, a Canadian charter rights advocate, has spent two years assisting male victims of domestic violence in the provincial courtrooms of Ontario, Canada.

" Report It

"Make absolutely no mistake," Vegh said. "Women can smoke dope, booze it up, throw a fist, wield a knife, use a gun, beat their spouse, and beat their kids. Report It

It is a type of violence that is ignored, condoned, and treated as frivolous by a justice system that survives by feeding on the one individual who is easily stereo-typed, Report It

lacks public sympathy, does not raise fear of reprisal in politicians, and often does not fight back." Report It

Vegh recently took a month-long sabbatical to the Arizona mountains, where he mused that the most important service he offers his clients is not legal advice, but simply to believe in them. Report It

To listen. 鈥淭hese men are victimized by their spouses and then ridiculed by a justice system that denies what has happened to them,鈥?he said. 鈥淭hey are stereotyped, labeled, and unheard by any authority. The human toll is staggering.鈥? Report It

As the weeks go by, I talk it over with three men friends, and am shocked to find that all of them were abused by either their mother or their wife. Report It

鈥淢y life would have to be in danger before I would hit a woman,鈥?says my friend Al. "I took a lot of scratches and bruises from my wife over the years because she knew I wouldn鈥檛 hit her back. Report It

But it will affect me for the rest of my life. It demoralizes you. It makes you almost dysfunctional with the opposite sex. People don鈥檛 understand; Report It

it鈥檚 not a matter of being more powerful.鈥?Al never sought counseling to heal from spousal abuse because, 鈥淚t鈥檚 shameful to talk about being beat up by a woman.鈥? Report It

http://www.sheridanhill.com/ba... Report It

You seem to answer your own question. Men are violent toward women because they can get away with it, legally and in the opinions of those around them. Add to that the history of violence against women. We learn how to behave from our parents. If a boy grows up in a family where dad hits mom and mom lets him, for whatever reason, get away with it, the boy thinks that's how he's supposed to behave. A girl growing up in the same kind of family will think that's she's supposed to be the victim.

I hope that figure of 83% is exaggerated. I have some dear friends in Nea Smyrni, and I know the mother of the family is a member of the 17%.

With women like you and men like my friend, things will change. It will take way too long, but things will change.

Get the data right:

You state that Greek women remain silent but then 86% of the Greek women spoke out already..! So much about silence no?

Since I am not a brilliant scientist as you are, I love getting my references right:

Starting from the Institute you claimed the data come form:
From the Greek Research Center on Equality Matters (KETHI): "Among all women interviewed, 3,6% suffered physical abuse and 3,5% were forced in sexual contact. Finally, only 8,8% considers their spouse/intimate partners as violent."
http://www.kethi.gr/english/bia/index.ht...

Then I checked your numbers through the European Commission's webpages on Gender Equality: "The percentages across all 15 European union countries range from 3 to 12% (which is high but not as high as...86%). In all countries, these numbers are heavily dependent on the economic, educational and geographic status of the household and strongly linked to social tags such as alcoholism, divorced families, drugs and so on."
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/ge...

But sorry I forgot...! You are the scientist...

Edit: No one is defensive. Your numbers are wrong. I proved my case (see above). Are we gonna open a discussion on wrong numbers? Get the data right first.

May I ask your nationality please first????

The reason for domestic violence that you mentioned is the same throughout Europe, US, and the developped world in general, of which Greece is part. Violence is not higher in Greece than the average of Europe. 83% is definitely wrong, but it contains psychological abuse which could be anything really. Sure all couples exchange insults sometime. I have even slapped my husband once, although I don't consider this as though I tortured him or anything! And we are happy ever since, I just got mad once. So this 83% and the question is probably a way to disgrace Greece, as there is no particular problem of the sort in this country.

The same as every were in the west including of course USA: lack of comprehencion and pure evil.I would appreciate it very much if you could tell us your nationality otherwhise you seem to be a text -book case of a practionaire of balck propaganda since your numbers do not relate with the reality

have you ever heard what happens in Italy which is considered more''developped'' than Greece?
I can send you artivcles and then juge..You ll be scared of what you ll read

The real report was clearly explained
by Frank b answer's.
In reality women abuse in Greece is far less than any other European countries!
If you bother to check the KETHI site you would have read the following:

"The issue of domestic violence was raised by the Women's Movement at the beginning of the 1970s in Europe and the USA and somewhat later in Greece after the political changeover when independent women's groups with feminist demands were formed."

And the following :
"Since then, many of the demands of women's movement have been achieved and approaches to pursuing others have changed."

And of course the research is clear and completely disagrees with the numbers you gave!:
鈥淎ccording to the results of the research, 56% (and not 86%) of the women interviewed, have experienced verbal and/or psychological violence,
3,6% suffered physical abuse and 3,5% were forced in sexual contact. Moreover, 23,6% of women mentioned that they were familiar with another woman from their related and/or friendly environment who has been or is a victim of domestic violence from the spouse/intimate partner. Finally, only 8,8% considers their spouse/intimate partners as violent.鈥?br>
Next time try to use real facts and make sure that you don鈥檛 use as a source such biased and heavily controlled organizations such as Helsinki monitor watch! (An American made organizations whose only purpose is to promote 鈥淎merican values鈥?to the former communist countries).
Using fake numbers from the report and presenting it in such a fake way clearly explains how ill-informed you are or you deliberately wanted to attack Greece.

( I forgot!! There is a clone user of Sigzag!!! Be carefull!!! He is not the real one!! Ignore his answer!!!)

it only shows how uneducated some men are,they would hit their wife or mum.Its The same to them.I seen a drunk son in his 50's slapping his mum on a balcony in volos on Easter day!!! In civilised societies this would cause the police to immediately come and throw the pig in jail.In there no one batted an eyelid,as people who got involved in the past had his dogs lose on them.Hitting women ,in any culture I think is despicable act.But then is it not us the Greeks who wonder if we the Europeans of the middle east or the middle Easterners of Europe?The latter in my opinion,unfortunately,what with dowries and arranged marriages still running in Greece.Still may be one day we can educate the youngsters enough and they will take us out of always running 100 behind.

I fast read the report and I could not figure how they estimated the 83%.
So I read the reference instead (see below) and it appears that the 83% was 83 of 100 women who called for help in a call center, not the 83% of all Greek women.
I guess it is a very bad citation and bad explanation of statistics.
Furthermore keep in mind that this report is old. Some of the laws have changed since. Violence is everywhere, but I am not sure that there can be clear statistics about it.

Turkish men don't do it. They are so gentle. I recommend anyone to go out and get one. I like them. I am Armenian.

There is no need to be defensive when it comes to this subject, but I must tell you that, unfortunately, violence against women happens everywhere, so there is no need to put national prefix to it.
According to Amnesty int. :
路 In Canada the costs of violence against the family amount to $1.6 billion per year, including medical care and lost productivity (UNICEF 2000).
路 In the USA a woman is battered, usually by her husband/partner, every 15 seconds (UN Study on the World鈥檚 Women, 2000)
路 In Spain one woman every five days was killed by her male partner in 2000 (Joni Seager, The Atlas of Women)
路 About two women per week are killed by their partners in the United Kingdom (Joni Seager, 2003)
路 In the Russian Federation 36,000 women are beaten on a daily basis by their husband or partner, according to Russian non-governmental organizations (OMCT 2003)

Violence against women in Turkey (including bride price/marital rape/virginity testing and all kinds of bizarre things):
http://www.omct.org/pdf/VAW/Publications...
In Estonia:
http://www.omct.org/pdf/VAW/Publications...
Hungary:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENG...
etc, etc, etc
How sad, don't yout think?
This subject must be discussed from women's point, doesn't matter what nationality they are. For sake of us all.

I agree with the user above..May we know first your nationality?