Behavioural and Social Sciences, Angjela (2025) The Myth of Neutrality in Greek Family Law: Feminist Legal Discourse Analysis of Tzioumaka v. Greece and Areios Pagos 799/2024. Master thesis, Pedagogical and Educational Sciences.
![[img]](https://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
ThesisAngjela-1-1.pdf Restricted to Repository staff only Download (611kB) |
A thesis is an aptitude test for students. The approval of the thesis is proof that the student has sufficient research and reporting skills to graduate but does not guarantee the quality of the research and the results of the research as such, and the thesis is therefore not necessarily suitable to be used as an academic source to refer to. If you would like to know more about the research discussed in this thesis and any publications based on it, to which you could refer, please contact the supervisor mentioned.
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to assess the degree to which the Greek Family Law System supports or hinders women involved in child protection and custody matters. The study utilizes feminist legal theory and international human rights law to analyze the implementation of gender-neutral statutory provisions on an informal level. The study employed a qualitative case-study method and utilized Feminist Legal Discourse Analysis to assess two recent cases: Tzioumaka v. Greece (ECtHR, 2024) and Areios Pagos 799/2024. Analysis revealed that the source of gender inequalities does not arise from differences as defined by statute, rather it arises from the delays in decision-making processes, fragmentation of institutions and evaluative reasoning in judicial decisions. Both cases illustrated how delays in reaching decisions and evaluating the actions of mothers as being in accordance with society's constructed expectations of what a good mother should do; all contribute to gender-based outcomes. Although institutional failures and parental inadequacies were framed in their own context, the actions of mothers were evaluated based on higher social expectations than fathers. In conclusion, although the formal standards (i.e. "the best interest of the child") appear to be gender-neutral, they may also be used to justify the structural inequities in the Greek Family Law System and serve as a basis for gender-discriminatory court rulings. Keywords: Greek family law; gender equality; feminist legal theory; parental responsibility; child custody; judicial discourse; legal neutrality
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Lopez Lopez, M. |
| Degree programme: | Pedagogical and Educational Sciences |
| Differentiation route/Track: | Youth 0-21, Society and Policy [Master Pedagogical and Educational Sciences] |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Feb 2026 12:33 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Feb 2026 12:33 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/6270 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |