Resumen de Emancipazione femminile in Grecia e influenze straniere. Il caso di Kallirroi Parren
The purpose of this paper is to examine the early beginnings of women’s emancipation in Greece. The rise of such a new consciousness was undoubtedly slow in the Greek context as the four century Ottoman rule had placed the female figure in a clearly subservient and passive role. The main focus of the essay is on the admirable writings and social activities of Kallirroi Parren, one of those Greek pioneering women who devoted their lives to the improvement of the position of the woman in a community still so largely connected with the past and not yet prepared to accept changes. Kallirroi Parren was fully aware of such boundaries and claimed for a moderate authonomy. Furthermore, the essay draws a parallel between the characters of Parren’s most meaningful book, Η Χειραφετημένη (The Emancipated Woman), with some of the characters described by Angelica Palli Bartolommei in her Racconti (Short Stories). The aim is to demonstrate how these distinguished women – one Greek and the other of Greek origin, whose family had moved to Italy – were sharing the same view on women’s rights although dwelling in different countries. In other words, two distinctive personalities but one single voice. The study ends by quoting the date and the causes of Parren’s death in order to honor the life of a woman who paved the way of women’s liberation in Greece, a path which was later followed by many other women who, like the great Cretean, made of such a battle a way of life.
