Small ‘Revolutions’ Show Greece is Still a Changing Society

On Sakellaropoulou's desk, directly behind the speaker, who was giving a long-winded speech, was a picture of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her face stamped on a memorabilia coffee cup. The 86-year-old US Supreme Court judge is a global icon for women's rights and liberal causes generally.

US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photo: EPA-EFE/TANNEN MAURY

Sakellaropoulou's symbolic choice of Ginsburg's picture for her coffe cup in the offices of the Greek courts, which are also male-dominated, is not coincidental.

Gender inequality remains an issue in Greece, where the unemployment rate among women is 23 per cent, as against 14 per cent for men. This nine-point gap is also the largest in the European Union.

Even more indicative of the role that Greek society reserves for women is that surveys show women still do 75 per cent of unpaid work in the home. Wife in the kitchen, husband in the street, working to bring the bread home: it is a stereotype that many generations of Greeks have grown up with, and a legacy that is still with us At the height of the financial crisis, unemployment among women aged 18-24 stood at 65 per cent.

As head of state, Sakellaropoulou does not have a mandate to address these problems, but the elevation to the president's office of a liberal-minded woman jurist who has fought for the rights of minorities and refugees does send a symbolic message to Greek society.

The new President's liberal profile also complements that of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis - though not necessarily that of the conservative party he leads. The Mitsotakis family has long been powerful in New Democracy, but also an "alien" presence within it. The current leader's father, who was party chairman and prime minister...