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The second half of the nineteenth century was an era of reconstruction for the newly established, independent Greek nationstate.1 In the midst of the multiple practical problems that were confronting the country, modern Greeks were involved in a twofold process of redefining modern Hellenism after almost four centuries of Ottoman occupation. On the one hand, they sought to westernize their culture and, on the other, to trace their fundamental Greekness in local customs and mores, so as to prove the nation's continuity and its affinity to ancient Hellenes.2 The "woman question," which raised the feminist awareness of Greek society toward the end of the nineteenth century, was intertwined with the country's ongoing struggle to define its ethnicity and secure its national viability. My intention in this brief essay is to show how Callirrhoe Parren (1859-1940), born Siganou, worked within the socio-historical context of her times to spearhead the feminist movement in Greece in 1887 and set the stage for the individual character of Greek feminism. Far from being confrontational and aggressive, like her American or British counterparts,3 Parren followed a moderate course that won over supporters for women's rights rather than foes. Called "moderate progressive" by her contemporaries, she managed to take advantage of the current national needs to promote her version of a modest Greek "new woman."
Ideological Background: Redefinition of Modern Hellenism
It would be instructive to describe first the ideological milieu of the second half of the nineteenth century, in which Parren lived and worked. While struggling to prove their ethnic/cultural continuity with their illustrious ancestors and secure their viability as a nation-state, modern Greeks began emulating the ways of Western European countries, whose democratic governments and culture were based on classical Greek ideas. This "tilt toward Europe," as many scholars have noted,4 would purge the country of all vestiges of the Oriental/Ottoman influences of its recent past, which were associated with backwardness, and move it closer to its classical roots and the western nations.
Under the influence of the Diaspora Greeks, who returned en mass to settle in the free country, Greece witnessed a strong wave of urbanization and westernization. In less than fifty years, the western style of life prevailed in urban centers like Athens, not only among the upper...