On the route of the Olympic Games: the temple of Hera in Olympia, female presence

I travel on a bus with my tourists to the archaeological site of Olympia, in Greece, the original, where in 778 BC the first Olympics were held.

Our guide, Efterpi Perperi, tells every detail. The Olympic Games were part of a religious festival and were held every four years. That interval was the system by which time was calculated in the history of ancient Greece. The Olympics were so important that they even suspended wars so that athletes could train.

At first the competitions consisted only of races, and little by little the javelin, the long jump, wrestling, among other sports, were added. The Olympics were held in the same place for over a thousand years, until they were abolished in 394 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius.

Efterpi describes classical Greek society with its attention to a healthy, beautiful, exercised body. The Olympics had strict rules that condemned cheating of any kind, or strange foods that granted supernatural powers. Even statues were erected as a warning, inside the Olympic complex, of players who had once broken rules. Everything organized and very Greek.

Nevertheless, this order and democracy would never reach women. Not only that they were banned from participating in the competitions, they couldn’t even attend.

I ask myself again, why this fear of female intervention, which continues to be repeated century after century and in each country. Apparently societies improve, and yet, I verify, in my personal experience, work, and conversations with friends from different parts of the world, that for a woman to hold a leadership position takes at least twice the effort.

When a woman tries to lead firmly, she is judged as “hysterical”, a discontinued word of obscure origin, or “bossy”. Instead, the man she imposes, that is if he is admired as a leader. Others’ perceptions of the man or woman in charge continue to be influenced by centuries of machismo and injustice. There is no objectivity when evaluating a female boss, nor the same respect from her colleagues, nor from her clients.

Why this fear of having a female in power, why the rejection?

According to my guide, the Athenians did not allow women to vote because when they chose a gift for Athens they asked for the olive tree, from the goddess Athena, and not the water, offered by the god Poseidon, which condemned the city to long droughts. Since then the Greek men kept them away from the polls. And away from sports.

There is the story of Callipateira, a widow who had to disguise herself as a coach to see her son compete in the Olympics. In the excitement of the contest, Callipateira’s outfit fell open, revealing her gender. The penalty was death. Out of respect for her father, brother and son, all Olympic champions, she was pardoned.

For women there were the games of Herea (of Hera, the wife of Zeus), but not the Olympics and not the ballot box. 2,780 years have passed since the first Olympic Games, and I still feel like Callipateira, trying to lead in the most “harmless” and “diplomatic” way, just as she had to disguise herself as a man. Right here in Greece, with people of multiple nationalities, I have to do two or three laps to earn the right to be a leader and to have my decisions respected.