"Does he wish to read masculine thoughts, tender feelings, brave ideas, expressed with the graces that were reserved for the female race? Let's read the letter from the Greek women to the Philhellenic women of America"
This is how the anonymous editor of the newspaper "Friend of the Law" describes with emotion the text of the speech of Evanthia Kairis "Letter of Greek women to the Philhellenes". We cannot but observe with how much pride he discovers the superiority of Greek women in the "masculine opinions" expressed in a feminine way and thus see the importance for the revolutionaries of the time of the establishment of a nation that would consist of extremely individuals. So extraordinary that they would break through the walls of gender difference. The quote also reminds us how much - then and now - we examine and perceive the women of that time through the male gaze.
Thus, when we speak of the "contribution of women to the revolution of 1821," a subtle nuance of speech betrays that we perceive the revolution as a male affair in which women merely contributed. However, historical records and secondary literature have another story to tell. Revolutionary processes are always attractive to marginalized social groups because they allow them to imagine a different political and social organization that will give them greater access to rights and political representation.
The prevailing image of women at the time is that they were oppressed. The few we know of who fought, such as Lascarina Pinotsi (Bouboulina) and Manto Mavrogenous, are treated as exceptions that confirm the rule.
So the women, being in a revolutionary process, saw a path that would lead them away from the oppression that most attributed to the Ottoman culture and administration. So in this text I will refer to the revolutionary acts of some women, wanting to show how they gave meaning to the uprising and the war and what possibilities they recognized in the revolution for themselves.
The prevailing image of women at the time is that they were oppressed. The few we know of who fought, such as Lascarina Pinotsi (Bouboulina) and Manto Mavrogenous, are treated as exceptions that confirm the rule. This impression is partly true, material and social conditions were often prohibitive. However, we know there was another side to it. Many women fought in battles and held weapons. The echo of these events comes to us fragmentarily through alternative sources, such as folk songs for example, where we learn about Lenio of Botsaris and many others.
There are testimonies about Mario, who, according to the historian Yiannis Vlachogiannis, was a confidant of Karaiskakis, always by his side on the battlefield, dressed as a man. From travelers of the second half of the nineteenth century we learn about Despina Maniati, wife of Constantinos Kanaris and her bravery during the Psara massacre. From the historian Francois Pouqueville we learn about the Spartan Constantina Zacharias who led five hundred men. From Kalirroi Parren's "Ladies' Journal" we learn about Stavrianna Savaina who participated in the battle of Valtetsi and the siege of Tripoli. There are, of course, many other testimonies that one can hoard in relation to women's military action.
The perception of the problems encountered by women in their attempt to be educated and of their difficult position in the society of the time often overshadows a diverse intellectual life that hardly found its way into publications, but awaits us in the archives in various hidden or not so hidden versions.
Apart from the battlefields there were other spaces opened up for the action of women in the revolutionary and pre-revolutionary period. The letter to the Philhellenic Women of America mentioned at the beginning is a typical example of gendered political action. This is a text by Evanthia Kairis, the manly woman of words who has been the subject of several studies for her translation and literary work, but is not so well known to the general public.
The letter, written in 1825, at a critical moment for the revolution, signed by dozens of women of the time and with strong resonance in the USA, is a small sample of the space that Philhellenism opened for women of the middle and upper classes to participate in politics action. It is also the echo of intense gendered intellectual activity. The perception of the problems encountered by women in their attempt to be educated and of their difficult position in the society of the time often overshadows a diverse intellectual life that hardly found its way into publications, but awaits us in the archives in various hidden or not and so hidden versions.
The current of philhellenism opened up a space where, under the guise of charity, women could express their political position and gather material and moral support. In the diaspora communities, women of the highest classes such as Isabella Theotokos-Albrici in Venice and Roxandra Edling-Sturza in St. Petersburg and Odessa promoted moral and financial support of the Greek Revolution openly in their salons, but also with the participation the establishment of secret societies.
These secret societies, often deriving their organizational forms from Masonic lodges or Carbonari societies, formed part of the organizational infrastructure of the age of revolutions. They were also an environment in which women could operate more easily as they did not need to be visible. This is how we know that there were women who participated in the lower strata of Philiki Etairia, such as Marigo Zarafopoula from Constantinople and others who at least had knowledge of what was happening in the upper strata of their region, such as Rallou Karatza-Argyropoulou from Phanariot. But in addition to the Philic Society, there were other societies such as the Philosophical Society of Vienna, of which Roxandra Edling-Sturza was a founding member. It is also possible that Isabella Theotokos-Albrici had a founding role in a similar organization in Venice, as at least some fragmentary records of the Austrian secret police show.
I have tried here to briefly trace the references in archives and secondary sources to women who fought, participated in secret societies and in warlike actions. It is indeed always interesting and useful for women's history to fill in gaps, to try to bring people who have been sidelined into familiar narratives back. Beyond this, it is important to recognize gendered revolutionary practices in order to read how women perceived Greece and the war, the place they claimed or perhaps assumed they would hold in the new political entity, the nation-state.
Most believed that the establishment of a Greek, Europeanized state would also mean the improvement of their own lives, the recognition of their humanity and value. Within the revolutionary context they saw infinite possibilities. Most were not verified. But I believe that dealing with women allows us to open our eyes to the many possibilities of the era, to perceive the mosaic of desires, perceptions and actions that characterized it, to see the many and varied contexts of the Greek Revolution.
*The text of Elisavet Papalexopoulou (Deputy Dr., European University Foundation of Florence) is included in the publication "Let's talk about the media #4 – E Greek #M eToo &public discourse » which will be published on Monday by the Media Jokers team in collaboration with the ENA Institute for Alternative Politics, at www.enainstitute.org.