Kallirhoe Parren ( el, Καλλιρρόη Παρρέν; 1861 – January 15, 1940) launched the
feminist movement
The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality b ...
in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and was a journalist and writer in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Early life
Born in
Rethymno
Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ( ...
,
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
, to a middle-class family, Kallirhoe Parren attained her primary education at the nun's school in
Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...
.
Upon completion she studied at the best school for girls in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
and in 1878 she graduated from the
Arsakeion School for training teachers.
She was very intelligent and knew many languages including Russian, French, Italian, and English.
She was invited to
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
where she worked for two years running the Greek community school for girls.
She also went to
Adrianople
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...
for several years to run the Zapeion School for the Greek community.
She finally settled in Athens with her husband, a French journalist named Jean Parren, who established the French press agency in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
.
''The Women's Journal''
From Athens she launched the feminist movement in Greece with the founding of a newspaper, ''Ephemeris ton kyrion'' (''Ladies' Journal''), in 1887.
[Ahmet Ersoy, Macie J. Gorny, Vangelis Kechriotis, (eds), ''Modernism: The Creation of Nation States.'', pp. 125–130. Central European University Press, (October 28, 2010), ] This was a publication run entirely by women and appeared initially as an 8 pg. weekly until 1908 when it changed to a bi-monthly that ran until early 1916.
She had a way of communicating with people that enabled her to convince all the famous female writers of her time to contribute to her paper even if those writers thought that they themselves are feminists.
The newspaper finally stopped running when in 1917 Parren was exiled by
Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos ( el, Ελευθέριος Κυριάκου Βενιζέλος, translit=Elefthérios Kyriákou Venizélos, ; – 18 March 1936) was a Greek statesman and a prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movem ...
administration to the island of
Hydra
Hydra generally refers to:
* Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed serpent in Greek mythology
* ''Hydra'' (genus), a genus of simple freshwater animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria
Hydra or The Hydra may also refer to:
Astronomy
* Hydra (constel ...
because she opposed Greece's involvement in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
on the side of the
Entente
Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements:
History
* Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...
.
Initiatives
While still in Athens she worked closely with the European and American women's movement and represented the newspaper for the international conferences held in Paris in the years 1888, 1889, 1896, 1900 and in 1893 when it was held in Chicago.
Though Parren fought for women's rights she mostly focused on educational opportunities and employment as opposed to women's suffrage.
She did this for tactical purposes.
She did not want to push too hard and get nothing but rather build a strong foundation so that one-day women voting would be more easily accepted.
By 1908, thanks to her immense efforts, the ''Ethniko Symvoulio ton Ellinidon'' (National Council of Greek Women) was founded.
It was affiliated with the
International Council of Women
The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., with ...
.
Between the years of 1890 and 1896 she founded various welfare organizations for women such as the ''Sunday School'', ''Asylum of Sainte Catherine'' and ''The Soup Kitchen''.
In 1900 she was able to achieve state protection over children and women's working conditions through an appeal to Minister
Theodoros Deligiannis
Theodoros Deligiannis () was a Greek politician, minister and member of the Greek Parliament, who served as Prime Minister of Greece five times from 1885 to 1905.
He led the Nationalist Party, which, alongside the New Party led by his prima ...
.
A report into women's emancipation in nineteenth-century Greece claims that as Greeks pursued nationalism, women were assigned a civilizing, ''Hellenism'' role. Parren is credited with expanding this role for women by calling on them, through her paper, to be more active in terms of patriotism.
[Avdela, Efi; Psarra, Angelika (2005)]
"Engendering 'Greekness': Women's Emancipation and Irredentist Politics in Nineteenth-Century Greece,"
''Mediterranean Historical Review'', Vol. 20, No. 1, June 2005, pp. 67–79. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
In 1896 Parren founded the Union of Greek Women. There was active involvement by the Union in collecting funds, sewing uniforms for soldiers, and training medical staff for the, short-lived,
Greco-Turkish War of 1897
The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War ( el, Ατυχής πόλεμος, Atychis polemos), was a w ...
.
Her other achievements include: founding the
Lyceum Club of Greek Women
The Lykeion ton Ellinidon is a Hellenic women’s organisation, whose main constitutional aim is to preserve and promote Hellenic cultural heritage. It was established in 1911 by Callirhoe Siganou-Parren, a pioneer of the feminist movement in Greec ...
in 1911, in order to fight various forms of injustices in Greek society, and successfully lobbying for women's admittance to the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
. Parren also wrote ''A History of Greek Women'' from 1650 to 1860 (in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
).
Parren was one of the founding members of the
Little Entente of Women
Little Entente of Women (1923–1930) was an umbrella organization for women's groups in the Balkan region and one of the first organizations to try to reunite Eastern European women from the former Austro-Hungarian region to work on changing thei ...
, which was created in 1923 to united women throughout the Balkan Peninsula. She also served as president of the Greek Chapter of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...
in the interwar period.
Literary salon
In addition to all of those initiatives she also ran a literary
salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
known as "literary Saturdays."
She was friends with
Juliette Adam
Juliette Adam (; née Lambert; 4 October 1836 – 23 August 1936) was a French author and feminist.
Life and career
Juliette Adam was born in Verberie (Oise). She gave an account of her childhood, rendered unhappy by the dissensions of he ...
,
Gavriilidis Gavriilidis ( el, Γαβριηλίδης) is a Greek surname, derived from the given name Gabriel. Notable people with the surname include:
*Giorgos Gavriilidis (1908–1982), Greek actor
* Ioannis Gavriilidis (born 1982), Greek Olympic diver
*Vlas ...
,
Jules Simon
Jules François Simon (; 31 December 1814 – 8 June 1896) was a French statesman and philosopher, and one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans in the Third French Republic.
Biography
Simon was born at Lorient. His father was a linen-dra ...
,
Xenopoulos
Gregorios Xenopoulos ( el, Γρηγόριος Ξενόπουλος; December 9, 1867 – 14 January 1951) was a novelist, journalist and playwright from Zakynthos. He was lead editor in the magazine ''The Education of Children'' (Η Διάπλασ ...
and the poet
Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas ( el, Κωστής Παλαμάς; – 27 February 1943) was a Greeks, Greek poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn. He was a central figure of the Greek Literature, Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofou ...
.
Palamas even wrote a famous poem about her.
She was a good friend with both women and men in her literary circles but if she ever felt that someone threatened her feminist interests then she would attack fearsomely.
One such instance happened with Roldis, the father of Greek literary criticism, who provoked the famous "''querelae'' over women writers" in 1893.
The argument fed the Athenian press for months.
Novels
In addition to publishing her newspaper and running the salon she also produced some novels. They were first published in her ladies newspaper under the pen name ''Maia''.
The response to them from the female audience was very enthusiastic. Her first novels were published in three subsequent volumes: ''I Hirafetimeni'' (1900; ''The Emancipated Woman''), ''I Mayissa'' (1901; ''The Enchantress'') and ''To Neon Symvoleon'' (1902; ''The New Contract'').
Together these books form a trilogy called ''Ta Vivlia tis Avyis'' (''The Books of Dawn'') and they were about the struggle of Greek women towards self-accomplishment and emancipation.
The trilogy was well received and critics Grigorios Xenopoulos and Kostis Palamas spoke of it as providing a generous contribution to the development of the Greek
social novel
The social novel, also known as the social problem (or social protest) novel, is a "work of fiction in which a prevailing social problem, such as gender, race, or class prejudice, is dramatized through its effect on the characters of a novel". More ...
.
In 1907 this saga reached a new level of popularity when it was adapted into a play called ''Nea Yineka'' (''New Woman'') which starred
Marika Kotopouli
Marika Kotopouli ( el, Μαρίκα Κοτοπούλη; 3 May 1887 – 11 September 1954) was a Greek stage actress during the first half of the 20th century.
Biography
Kotopouli was born on 3 May 1887 in Athens to actor parents, Dimitrios Kot ...
who was one of the most famous dramatic actresses of the 20th century.
In addition to this famous trilogy Parren also published ''To Maramenon Krinon'' (''The Faded Lily'') and ''Horis Onoma'' (''Without a Name''), which unfortunately has been lost since their initial creation.
Death
![Buste de Kalliroi Parren à Réthymnon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Buste_de_Kalliroi_Parren_%C3%A0_R%C3%A9thymnon.JPG)
Parren died in Athens on January 15, 1940.
See also
*
Feminism in Greece
Shortly after feminist ideology started gaining popularity in the mid-19th and early 20th century in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States, and slowly the rest of the world, the movement begun affecting changes t ...
*
Soteria Aliberty
Soteria Aliberty ( el, Σωτηρία Αλιμπέρτη; 1847–1929) was a Greek feminist and educator who founded the first Greek women's association, ''Ergani Athena'' ( el, Εργάνη Αθηνά).
Aliberty founded a school for girls in Rom ...
References
Further reading
* Stefanidou, Xenia (2007). "Greek Women in Positions of Power." Paper presented at the Hellenic American Professional Society Annual Meeting. November 4.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parren, Kalliroi
1861 births
1940 deaths
Greek feminists
Greek women journalists
Greek writers
Greek women's rights activists
Greek suffragists
Greek salon-holders
19th-century Greek people
Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens
Clubwomen
People from Rethymno