Margaret Chant-Papandreou
Ex-wife of Andreas Papandreou (born 1923)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margaret Papandreou (Greek: Μαργαρίτα Παπανδρέου; née Margaret Esther Chant; born 30 September 1923) is an American and Greek women's rights activist, writer and the former wife of ex-Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. Among her children are ex-Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, and the member of the European Parliament Nikos Papandreou.
30 September 1923
Margaret Papandreou | |
|---|---|
| Μαργαρίτα Παπανδρέου | |
Papandreou in 1987 | |
| Spouse of the Prime Minister of Greece | |
| In role 21 October 1981 – 2 July 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Andreas Papandreou |
| Preceded by | Lena Ralli |
| Succeeded by | Maria Tzannetaki |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Margaret Esther Chant 30 September 1923 Oak Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Citizenship |
|
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, including George and Nikos |
| Education | University of Minnesota (B.J., BSPH) |
Early life
Margaret Esther Chant was born on September 30, 1923, in Oak Park, Illinois. She was the eldest of five children of Douglas Chant (1896–1981), and Hulda Anne Pfund Chant (1893–1986).[1] She first studied journalism and then did her masters in public health at the University of Minnesota, where she met her future husband Andreas Papandreou in 1947. The family later moved to Elmhurst, Illinois. Her father's parents were from England and her mother's were from Switzerland.
Career
Chant-Papandreou was for the President of the Greek Women's Union, a Greek independent feminist organization. She is also the author of several books and a columnist.[2][3][4]
Papandreou is an important participant in the struggle for women's rights, as she played a leading role in the creation, elaboration and promotion of laws that greatly improved the legal and social position of Greek women, such as the abolition of the dowry institution (1982),[5] the legalization of abortion (1986),[6] the establishment of civil marriage (1982),[6] the legalization of divorce by mutual consent, the possibility of women retaining their surnames after their marriage and obtaining equal rights with the husband in the custody of their children.[5]
Lagarde list
In December 2012, the newspapers To Vima and Proto Thema claimed in their publications that Papandreou owned one of the accounts on the Lagarde list.[7]
On October 14, 2014, the Economic Crimes Enforcement Agency (SDOE) officially responded with a letter to Chant-Papandreou that, following an investigation carried out in the context of a lawsuit filed by M. Papandreou, her name is not included on the Lagarde list. The document was signed by the special secretary of SDOE, Stylianos Stasinopoulos.[8]
Personal life
Chant married Papandreou on 30 August 1951.[9] They initially lived in Minnesota and later in California, where Papandreou was Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. With Papandreou she had four children, George, Sofia, Nikos and Andrikos Papandreou.[10]
In 1989, Papandreou agreed to grant a divorce so that Andreas Papandreou could marry Dimitra Liani.[11][12]
Papandreou turned 100 on 30 September 2023.[13][14]