Despite the many female achievements in political life and social affairs, gender inequalities and negative stereotypes remain strong, posing serious obstacles to the balanced development of young girls and their self-realisation, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou stressed.
On Thursday, Greece's first female President was invited to speak at the College of Europe.
Her lecture was titled 'Democracy & Gender Equality'.
The limited participation of women in the labor market, the wage gap between men and women and the pandemic's repetitive lockdowns, have made "women more vulnerable to unemployment, poverty and social exclusion," she said.
"With faith in her strength, with perseverance and dedication, a woman can do great things," Sakellaropoulou stressed.
The European Union has played an important role, internationally, in promoting gender equality and tackling violence against women and young girls, she noted.
"That is why I consider the series of seminars organised by the Lambraki Foundation for young women to be particularly important. Information, support, empowerment seminars, which equip them with the appropriate cognitive and mental resources to claim their role in the social, economic and political spheres. I wish success to this remarkable project, which aims to transform an environment of inequality and discrimination into a space of freedom and self-realisation," she concluded.
The virtual event launched a series of conferences in honour of Belgian feminist Elaine Vogel-Polsky.