(Photo Credit: EPA)
Greece celebrates first woman president
On Wednesday, the parliament elected high court judge and human rights advocate Katerina Sakellaropoulou to be Greece’s first female president.
Although not a member of a political party, Sakellaropoulou was nominated by the ruling conservative New Democracy party and was still able to secure a strong backing of main opposition party Syriza and center-left Movement for Change.
This is not the first time Sakellaropoulou was the first woman in the position of the government. Previously, she was the first woman to serve as the president of the Council of State, the country’s top administrative court, holding the position for 15 years.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said her win offers “a window to the future,” as reported by CNN International.
Sakellaropoulou’s win comes as Greece comes out of a decade-long financial crisis and years of political turmoil. The country has fallen far behind neighboring European countries when it comes to women in senior positions in politics. In 2017, Greece scored at the very bottom of the gender equality index issued by the European Institute for Gender Equality.
This makes Sakellaropoulou’s win even more important as Mitsotakis was widely criticized for the lack of women in his cabinet. Mitsotakis said that change “starts from the top… with Greek women receiving the position they deserve.”
By: Maytinee Kramer
