| Margaret Chant-Papandreou | |
| Native Name: | Μαργαρίτα Τσαντ-Παπανδρέου |
| Native Name Lang: | el |
| Image Upright: | 1.1 |
| Birth Date: | 30 September 1923 |
| Birth Place: | Oak Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Nationality: | Greek-American |
| Children: | 4, including George and Nikos |
| Parents: |
|
| Education: | University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (B.J.) |
| Birth Name: | Margaret Chant |
Margaret Chant-Papandreou (Greek: Μαργαρίτα Τσαντ-Παπανδρέου; born September 30, 1923) is a Greek-American activist, author, and columnist who served as the First Lady of Greece from 1981 to 1989, as the wife of Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou. She is also the mother of Prime Minister of Greece (2009–2011) George Papandreou.
She 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), the legalization of abortion (1986),[1] the establishment of civil marriage (1982), 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.[2]
She was born in Oak Park, Illinois on September 30, 1923, the eldest of five sisters. 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 1948. The family later moved to Elmhurst, Illinois. Her father's parents were from England and her mother's were from Switzerland. She married Andreas Papandreou in 1951. They initially lived in Minnesota and later in California, where Andreas Papandreou was Chair of the Department of Economics at Berkeley University. She was for 8 years the President of the Greek Women's Union, a Greek, independent feminist organization. She is also the author of several books and a columnist.[3] [4] [5]
With Andreas Papandreou they had four children, George, Sofia, Nikos and Andrikos Papandreou.[6]
In 1989, Margaret agreed to grant a divorce so that Andreas Papandreou could marry Dimitra Liani.[7] [8]
She turned 100 on September 30, 2023.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
In December 2012, the newspapers To Vima and Proto Thema claimed in their publications that Margarita Papandreou owned one of the accounts on the Lagarde list.[14]
On October 14, 2014, Economic Crimes Enforcement Agency (SDOE) officially responded with a letter to Margarita Papandreou that, following an investigation carried out, in the context of a lawsuit filed by M. Papandreou, her name is not included in the Lagarde list. The document is signed by the special secretary of SDOE Stylianos Stasinopoulos.[15]