David SASSOLI, EP President, and Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, open the event marking the International Women’s day during an inter-parliamentary meeting organised by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), in collaboration with the Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments. Keynote speeche by Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

meeting

SASSOLI, David Maria (S&D, IT, S&D, IT)

International Women's Day (T)

gender balance (T)

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

social life (T)

SAKELLAROPOULOU, Katerina (EL)

FEMM - International Women Day 2021 - We are strong: Women leading the fight against Covid-19: Keynote speech by Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16735053/I202580Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Original), Evelyn REGNER (S&D, AT), FEMM Chair, And now I would like to welcome, we're going to listen to the keynote speech by her excellency, Madame Ekaterini Sakelaropoulou, the first female president of the Hellenic Republic, elected in January 2020. Very much welcome. The floor is yours.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, I'm very glad to be with you today. Allow me to continue my address in Greek. International Women's Day is celebrated this year under particular circumstances, the pandemic has been a very difficult, a very painful experience, and it has made all the more acute gender issues that prevail. President of the Hellenic Republic, for the first time a woman. And in this position, I feel indeed a great responsibility, a great responsibility to deal with the problems that issues confront.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, In my visits to hospitals, vaccination centres, I saw the selflessness and the dedication with which women have been working women in the health sector. I'm speaking about doctors, nursing staff, and in my travels throughout the country, I saw that indeed these women are dedicated to the work that they're doing, from people who have been working as cleaning staff, people who are working in old age homes, people who are working in numerous different sectors in domestic help as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, Different sectors that have been hit by the pandemic, sectors where women are paid less than men and where they work under very, very difficult circumstances. These women have borne the terrible burden of taking care of people under these extremely difficult conditions, working for very, very little and not being recognised for the work that they do. These women are struggling to make ends meet, and they are women who live under multiple vulnerability.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, We're speaking about single mothers and frequent circumstances, people who have been left in the pandemic out in the cold without the possibility of really finding any help anywhere suffering from poverty and social exclusion. Migrants, migrants who have been living under fear, extremely vulnerable, people who have been trafficked, people who have been abused physically, mentally. Elderly women vulnerable, alone with very, very low income. Women who have been the victims of domestic violence as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, The pandemic led to an increase in pandemic violence. Many women, because of the lack of social contact and isolation at home, have engaged with their abusers. Domestic violence, with its numerous different dimensions, has taken on proportions which didn't exist in the past. The Me Too movement in Greece now has grown considerably under these circumstances.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, It has given an opportunity to empower women to speak finally in an open fashion about their terrible experiences. Now, the convention of the Council of Europe on fighting domestic violence and the Istanbul convention, of course, are a new compass which will lead us hopefully in the right direction. The pandemic has, of course, created problems in the places of work as well.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, It has led to increased abuse at work and it has showed us how vulnerable a huge portion of our population women are at work. Women work in atypical fashions and short term part time jobs with very, very little security and are poorly paid with very limited access to the Social Security system. Although equal pay was something that was already emphasised in the Treaty of Rome, the gap that exists, the pay gender gap, is at 14 percent in Europe and 23 percent worldwide.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, The pay gap between men and women, which is part of the entire, if you like, range of professions and throughout the careers of individuals and affects all women, but affects all the more so particularly vulnerable groups of women. The problem, which has now arisen in the provision of care in the European Union, 78 percent of those who work in this particular sector, and it is 70 percent of those working in that sector that are women, these women are poorly paid and they are subject to conditions which are degrading, to say the least.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, In Greece, these figures are even higher. And of course, beyond this low pay, there are those that are not paid at all for this work. So the time has come. Ladies and gentlemen, to understand the added value of this work in the caretaking sector and understand the importance that it has as far as the development of the economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, The time has come for us to take into consideration that domestic responsibilities, the burden of which falls for the most part on women and of course, cannot be measured by pay and is not even frequently recognised the value of it. That is the same. So this nonpaid work. It's something that we have to understand the burden of it, that is to say.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, And it has also major reverberations as far as the development of the economy, and it is an issue of justice between a just, equal gender balance as well. So the time has come for us to look at this. And there is a long road before us. We all understand the need for respectable work, for dignity in work, and that this is part of recovery overall, particularly following the pandemic.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, Gender equality is at the centre of all of this. So it is absolutely imperative for us to look at the recovery process and the gender dimension in it. We have to adopt policies that take into consideration the different experiences between men and women and the different needs that exist of women overall. So the gender issue is something that we have to take into consideration right now.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, That is to say, if we are going to be able to understand the various possibilities that exist before us as far as a proper recovery, this problem is multifarious in nature. It is multidimensional. If we don't look at this issue right now, we are undermining our democracies and we are missing wonderful chances for development, wonderful chances to create harmony in our societies.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, .In other words, it is necessary for us to look at this if we want to overcome archaic structures of the past which have served as nothing more than an impediment as far as development, social development. Inequalities are not overturned from one day to the next.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece, Equality is a challenge that doesn't only involve women, but all of us, particularly all of those men and women that have the possibility as far as providing something for the future to changing the course of the future as far as gender equality. So it is important for all of us politicians to work as effectively as we can on this front. Thank you very much.

FEMM - International Women Day 2021 - We are strong: Women leading the fight against Covid-19: Keynote speech by Ekaterini SAKELAROPOULOU, President of Greece

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