So much of the information we find in our research is about the men of the island and it was wonderful to find some information that was solely about women on the island.
While reading old Kytherian newspapers I stumbled across an article in the ΚΥΘΗΡΑΪΚΙ newspaper dated 15 October 1933. A list of female names caught my eye, so I translated the whole article and I was excited about what I read. It was a list of 62 women who had registered to vote in the upcoming January 1934 election. This intrigued me as I personally knew that Greek women did not get the right to vote until the 1950s (won the right to vote in 1952 and the first election they could vote in was 1956). What are these women registering for then?
Reading through the article it was obvious that women over 30 years of age had just won the right to vote in mayoral and community elections not long earlier. I was amazed that it took nearly 20 years for them to progress from there to the right to vote at a general election!
The article referenced another article in the newspaper from the month before, so I quickly looked that up. It seemed to be a political propaganda article about an unnamed man in Fratsia who had encouraged many females from his political party to register and to vote for him. It also listed the women’s names.
Reading the original article again, I found it was obvious that they were responding to this article, confirming his claims were incorrect and those women had not registered. What is fabulous though is they then went on to list the women who were officially on the electoral register. Eight were from Fratisia (none of who were on the propaganda list) and 55 women from Chora. No women from any other village had registered. The unnamed author did question if this was because other villages were "backwards" (??!!) or whether the current community leaders were not encouraging women to register. What is clear, the author was encouraging other women to register in the future. They had until January 1934 to do so. With some luck, these women’s names will be published in future editions, and I will encounter them soon.
The 63 trailblazing Kytherian women whose names were listed in the newspaper are as follows:
Alexandra born unknown date to unknown parents and wife of Dionisios TZANES from Chora.
Erini ANTIPA born 17 June 1896 to Ioannis ANTIPAS and Anni or Diana MASELOU from Chora.
Melpomeni ARONI born 8 April 1885 to Theodoros ARONIS and Evgeniki VENERI from Chora.
Paschaliga ARONI born 12 January 1876 to Theodoros ARONIS and Evgeniki VENERI and wife of Emmanouil KONTOLEON from Chora.
Evanthia AVGERINOU born 5 July 1888 to Spiridon AVGERINOS and Maria ANTIPA and wife of Panagiotis KARANTZAS from Chora.
Fotini AVGERINOU born 6 January 1900 to Emmanouil AVGERINOS and Roza KAVALINI from Chora.
Anastasia DAPONTE born 1 April 1890 to Manouil DAPONTES and Eleni MASELOU from Chora.
Christina DAPONTE born 27 January 1877 to Antonios DAPONTES and Fotini ANDRIADAKI and wife of Georgios PETROHILOS from Chora.
Ekaterini EKONOMAKOU born 19 December 1899 to Dimitrios EKONOMAKOS and Erithelgi SKORDILI and wife of Dimitrios MARGETIS from Chora.
Eleni FATSEA born 20 May 1902 to Georgios FATSEAS and Maria VENERI and wife of Spiridon MASELOS from Chora.
Vasiliki GORDOVANA born 22 November 1896 to Georgios GORDOVANAS and Hariklia LEONTARAKI and wife of Ioannis BAGKIS from Chora.
Chrisa HARIDI born circa 1899 to I. HARIDIS and Ekaterini --?-- and wife of Ioannis DAPONTES from Chora.
Ekaterina HAROU born 22 October 1896 to Theodoros HAROS and Vasiliki PETROHILOU from Chora.
Erini KALOKERNOU born 1 June 1885 to Georgios KALOKERNOS and Kerana TZORTZOPOULOU and wife of Aggelos PETROHILOS and Panagiotis LOURANTOS from Chora.
Areti KARANTZA born 27 March 1882 to Athanasios KARANTZAS and Diamanta MANAKOU and wife of Ioannis KASIMATIS from Chora.
Alexandra KASIMATI born 12 October 1888 to Antonios KASIMATIS and Anastasoula ZANNE and wife of Panagiotis NIKIFORAKIS from Chora.
Polixeni KASIMATI born 18 April 1902 to Panagiotis KASIMATIS (Kafetzis) and Maria KASIMATI and wife of Emmanouil MALANOS from Chora.
Stamata KASIMATI born circa 1876 to Themistoklis KASIMATIS and Alexandra XANTHAKI and wife of Georgios PETROHILOS from Chora.
Theodora KASIMATI born circa 1885 to Papa Georgios KASIMATIS and Eleni AVGERINOU and wife of Aggelos KAVALINIS from Chora.
Ekaterini KAVALINI born 21 May 1859 to Ioannis KAVALINIS and Rosa CASSIMATI and wife of Emmanouil PETROHILOS from Chora.
Maria KENTROTI born 30 October 1888 to Konstantinos KENTROTIS and Kalomira MARKESI and wife of Pavlos MARENTIS from Fratsia.
Veloudo KOMINOU born 25 September 1897 to Theodorakis KOMINOS and Ligeri MAVROMATI and wife of Panagiotis LAZARETOS from Fratsia.
Ekaterina KONTOLEON born 5 February 1877 to Antonios KONTOLEON and Kamila STAI and wife of Nikolaos LEVOUNIS from Chora.
Marieta KONTOLEON born circa 1885 to Antonios KONTOLEON and Kamila STAI and wife of Stefanos NIKIFORAKIS.
Despinia LASKARI born circa 1890 to unknown parents and wife of Ioannis AVGERINOS from Chora.
Sapfo LEFTERI born circa 1885 to Konstantinos LEFTERIS and wife of Spiridon KALLIGEROS from Chora.
Ekaterina LENTARAKI born 8 March 1877 to Ioannis LENTARAKIS (Lafazakis) and Kali FLASKA and wife of Dimitrios KALOKERNOS and Dimitrios KALOKERNOS from Fratsia.
Reggina LEONTARAKI born 23 April 1881 to Georgios LEONTARAKIS and Panagiota LEFTHERI and wife of Spiridon MASELOS from Chora.
Aglaia LEVOUNI born 7 May 1872 to Georgios LEVOUNIS and Ekaterini MORMORI and wife of Dionisios KALOUTZIS from Chora.
Kaliopi LEVOUNI born 3 August 1886 to Georgios LEVOUNIS and Ekaterini MORMORI and wife of Theodoros NIKIFORAKIS from Chora.
Adamantia MARGETI born circa 1900 to Ioannis ARONIS (Margetis) and Maria KALOUTZI and wife of Michalis MOUATZOS from Chora.
Anni MARGETI born 21 December 1895 to Ioannis ARONIS (Margetis) and Maria KALOUTZI and wife of Georgios ALVANAKIS from Chora.
Sofia MARGETI born 1 January 1895 to Ioannis ARONIS (Margetis) and Maria KALOUTZI and wife of Antonios HASTAS from Chora.
Eleni MASELOU born 7 June 1893 to Dimitrios MASELOS and Gianoula RAISI and wife of Konstantinos KALOKERINOS from Fratsia. FATSEAS PHOTO 1218
Erini NIKIFORAKI born 14 October 1868 to Nikolaos NIKIFORAKIS and Smirna BARBARIGOU and wife of Spiridon VARIPATIS from Chora.
Maria NIKOLOPOULOU born circa 1899 to Christos NIKOLOPOULOS and Kaliopi XANTHAKI and wife of Valerios KALOKERNOS from Chora.
Pinelopi PASTOU born 5 October 1884 to Ioannis PASTOS (Koronios) and Christina KASIMATI and wife of Georgios PETROHILOS from Chora.
Vreti PAVLAKI born 27 November 1900 to Georgios PAVLAKIS and Evgeniki KASIMATI and wife of Dimitrios PAVLAKIS from Fratsia.
Antonitsa PETROHILOU born 17 January 1877 to Manousos PETROHILOS (Giovankos) and Anezina DAPONTE and wife of Antonios HAROS from Chora.
Eleni PETROHILOU born 5 April 1890 to Dimitrios PETROHILOS and Reggina ALVANAKI and wife of Dimitrios KASIMATIS from Chora.
Gianoula PETROHILOU born 5 November 1881 to Matheos PETROHILOS and Aspasia KALLIGEROU and wife of Panagiotis ARONIS from Chora.
Maria PETROHILOU born 29 January 1885 to Manousos PETROHILOS (Giovankos) and Anezina DAPONTE and wife of Kleomenos PETROHILOS from Chora.
Rodamnia PETROHILOU born 3 September 1890 to Georgios PETROHILOS (Gountis) and Aggeliki TZANE and wife of Antonios DAPONTES from Chora.
Kaliopi SKORDILI born 20 April 1878 to Antonios SKORDILIS and Eleni TITZANOU and wife of Emmanouil MORMORIS from Chora.
Kiriaki STATHI born 3 April 1895 to Dimitrios STATHIS and Vasiliki PETROHILOU and wife of Spiridon STATHIS from Chora.
Tzaneta VENERI born circa 1896 to Ioannis VENERIS and wife of Andreas ANDRONIKOS from Chora.
Stamata VEZOU born 8 November 1873 to Ioannis VEZOS and Loukia MAVROPOULOU and wife of Ioannis KORONEOS from Chora.
Anezina VLAHOGENI born 14 November 1909 to Manolis VLAHOGENIS and Eleni STRATIGOU and wife of Nikolaos PAVLAKIS from Fratsia.
The following women were not found in our files and nothing more is known about them.
From Fratsia
Eleni G. KASIMATI
Eleni wife of Kosmas KASIMATIS
From Chora
Stamata N. ASTROPALIOTI
Erini N GITAKOU
Ekaterini D. FATSEA
Chrisoula I. GALIGALI
Katina Ioan. KARAVALI
Eleni Em. KONTOLEONTOU
Kamilitsa I. KONTOLEONTOU
Pinelopi G. MACHERIOTI
Kiriakoula N. MARSELLOU
Ekaterina Man. NIKIFORAKI
Ekaterini Kos. PETROHILOU
Eleni G. PLIONI
Kiriakoula G. STATHI
For translations as read from the original newspaper see out searchable database.
Blibliography
ΚΥΘΗΡΑΪΚΗ newspaper 15 October 1933