Diotima Centre

Diotima - Centre for Gender Rights and Equality is a non-profit, non-governmental women's organization. It was established at the end of the 80s through an initiative of a group of women from different academic backgrounds and aiming at systematically highlighting discriminations against women on all levels of social, political and economic life. Diotima carries three interrelated and complementary identities: 1) It is a research center specializing in gender and equality issues, introducing feminist approaches and critical analysis, while trying to gain insight on gender mainstreaming in relation to social, employment, immigration and other policies. Within this framework, the Centre realizes research programmes, carries out relevant studies, and elaborates manuals, intervention tools, etc, on a variety of issues. 2) What is more, Diotima is a certified Centre for Counseling & Supportive Services, which plans and implements interventions and counseling activities for the support and empowerment of women in general and for the support of diversified groups of women (e.g. unemployed women, single mothers, victims of violence and trafficking, immigrants etc), as well as interventions for women's self-employment/entrepreneurship, skills upgrading, referrals to relevant services and organizations, etc. 3) Finally Diotima, is a women's NGO, and as such it contributes to the understanding of social and political life from a gender perspective, offering advocacy to women, empowering them, safeguarding their right to self-definition, while questioning prevalent male-centered approaches. The Centre also lobbies for transparency and accountability, and contributes in keeping an open dialogue among many and different at each time political and social subjects – the academic/ research community, institutional actors, policy and opinion makers, the civil society.