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Votes for Women
Women first got the right to vote in Greece in the 1930's but World War II and the Greek civil war effectively blocked their full participation until the early 1950's.

In 1944 elections took place in the part of Greece that had escaped Nazi occupation and several women won election to a sort of "national council."

The first woman officially elected to parliament was in 1953 from Thessaloniki in a by-election. This may also have been the first time women voted in significant numbers. In the 1956 parliamentary elections, two women won seats, Two women were elected: Lina Tsaldari (ERE, right wing) and Vasso Thanasekou (Democratic Union, left wing).

Prior to the 1967 dictatorship there were never more than 4 women in parliament (out of 300 deputies). Women's participation didn't go over 10% consistently until 2000.

I wish I had better sources for this, and I am not 100% of the facts alleged here.

An analysis of women's voting patterns is "Women and Politics" by M. Pantelidou Maloutas, of the U. of Athens

A source for further information (recommended to me, but I have not read it) is Tasoula Vervenioti, "The Adventure of Women's Suffrage in Greece" in When the War was Over. Women, War and Peace in Europe, 1940-1956, edited by Claire Duchen and Irene Bandhauer-Schoffmann, Leicester University Press, 2000.

Last modified 2/25/14; posted 1/26/02; original content © 2014, 2002 John P. Nordin