Changing Gender/Nation Relations: Women’s Roles in Making and Restructuring the Greek Nation-State

Abstract

Although nationalist movements mobilize more women globally than other forms of politics, there is diversity in gender/nation relations, which the civic/ethnic dichotomy cannot explain. Greek women's citizenship was advanced by both civic and ethic nation-making, but it was retarded or rolled-back by exclusionary, militaristic forms. Top-down democratization left feminists torn between partisan politics and autonomous organizing. Although now disappointed with Greek democracy, and alienated from official nationalism, women's affiliation with national projects promoted their citizenship and let them achieve a more progressive gender regime.