Vasilis S. Gavalas, Pavlos Baltas

Τύπος: Άρθρα σε επιστημονικά περιοδικά

Genealogy 2022, 6 (1), 5.

Published: 4 January 2022

 

Abstract

Previous studies have indicated gender-based discriminatory practices as a result of son preference up to the first half of the 20th century in Greece. Demographic indices calculated from published vital statistics, such as sex ratios at birth and at childhood, were distorted to such an extent that certain scholars suggest that this distortion was due to sex-selective infanticide and neglect of the girls. Although we cannot exclude this possibility, the aim of this paper is to assess to what extent under-registration of female births (in the civil registration system) and under-enumeration of females (in censuses) accounted for the skewed sex ratios and to pinpoint that gender-based discrimination was not the same all over Greece. There were areas in insular Greece, notably the Ionian islands and the Aegean Archipelago, and one area in mainland Greece (Epirus) where demographic indices imply that gender inequalities were less acute. On the other hand, there were areas in mainland Greece, notably in Thessaly, where sex-differential mortality denotes extremely unequal treatment of girls.

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The History of Family in Late Modern and Contemporary Europe through the Eyes of Historical Demography)

Open access: https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6010005