Legal quotas for women candidates have demonstrably increased the number of women in elected posts, but some proponents fear a backlash. From JAMnews.
Between October and December, 45 Armenian towns and cities will hold elections to local councils. Local officials will be chosen by a proportional, party list system, and according to a law passed in 2020, political parties in communities with more than 4,000 residents must have at least 30 percent female candidates on their lists. This should result in more women being elected to local councils.
This requirement has been in effect since 2016 in the three largest cities of Armenia – Yerevan, Gyumri, and Vanadzor. Elsewhere, until this month local elections were contested under the majoritarian system and without quotas for women.
[Transitions editor’s note: On the national level, quotas for women on party lists for parliamentary elections have been on the books since 1999, when the quota was set at 5 percent. The quota has risen steadily, to 15 percent, 25 percent, and this year to 33 percent. Over the past 30 years, the share of female parliamentarians in Armenia has at times fallen to the low single digits, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, but generally shows a slow rising trend, which has accelerated since 2017. Just over one-third of the current parliament are women, a significantly higher share than in most other former Soviet countries.]
We asked politicians and experts what changes they expected to see under the new quota system and how it might benefit women and society.
A Better Outlook for Women
“The proportional system dramatically increases the chances for women in elections, since the victory of a candidate no longer depends on voting in favor of a particular person, says Vahan Movsisyan, an experienced observer of Armenian local government who has published scholarly articles on the topic.”
“Under the majoritarian system, voters, even if they treated women and men candidates equally, still thought about whether to vote for a man or a woman. Under the proportional system, people vote for the political team.”
The proportional system will contribute to an increase in the number of women in electoral lists and in self-government bodies, argues Lusine Sanoyan, a member of the Gyumri municipal council, or Council of Elders.
“Under the majoritarian system, men had more chances to gain votes; women remained in the shadows during the pre-election period. Under a proportional system, political forces are obliged to ensure the representation of women,” Sanoyan said.
Hasmik Yeghiazaryan, a former candidate for local government bodies in Gyumri, under both the proportional and majoritarian systems, recalls:
“Earlier, when I took part in elections under the majoritarian system, I was more than once faced with court authorities and ‘money bags’ who obstructed the work of women candidates. Women were not allowed to speak or invite voters to meetings. The men exerted such pressure that the fight became meaningless.”
Early Results
Of the six towns and cities that held local elections on 17 October, Dilijan had the highest representation of women on electoral lists. Women made up 61.5 percent of candidates on the social-democratic Citizen’s Decision party list and 43.5 percent on the list of Country for Life, a party formed this year by two former ministers in Nikol Pashinyan’s governments.
“We do not treat women’s involvement from a legislative point of view, but from a substantive point of view. I believe that women are capable of much; they can make sound decisions; and they can take care of their communities as they take care of their families and children,” says newly elected Dilijan Council of Elders member Armine Hovhannisyan, a Country for Life member.
Mikael Nahapetyan, a member of the Citizen’s Decision executive body, welcomes the legal changes that will see more women involved in community governance. At the same time, he fears a negative reaction to the introduction of quotas.
“I believe that this creates a situation where women who could be elected without quotas will be perceived by society and their own supporters as people who ended up in local government bodies only thanks to the law. Even in the most civilized, most tolerant teams, men may have a latent opinion that they themselves were elected due to their merits, while women were elected [because of] the law. This can have a negative impact on healthy partnerships,” he says.
Political forces very often turn the process of naming women to electoral lists into primitive bargaining, he says.“Political organizers are mostly men, and they are tasked with finding women. As a result, we get the required proportional composition, of course, but in this case, the involvement of women is only a semblance [of real participation].”
Nahapetyan argues that in order to stimulate the participation of women in the work of parliament and local government bodies, steps should be taken to overcome the barriers that prevent women from participating in political life.
“In order to involve women in politics, we must if possible clear away the obstacles that prevent them from meaningful participation in political discourse,” he says. “We must find sources of funding their election campaigns, create conditions that will ease their family’s concerns, and help develop their personal qualities and improve their skills. That is, to do everything possible so that a woman who wants to, can participate in elections.”
Hope for Improvement
Political groups often face the problem of replenishing their ranks with experienced women who are interested in politics, according to Movsisyan.
“I have no doubt that it will be easy to find men [candidates], but it will be difficult to find trained women who want to enter the electoral lists,” he says. “Even when opportunities for participation are created, women do not always agree to enter the race or hold high positions.
“Until recently, local self-government bodies were seen as at high risk of corruption, and women tried not to enter this field. The trend toward decreasing corruption risks can lead to greater interest in political discourse among women,” he continues.
If this happens, Movsisyan believes, the work of local self-government bodies will significantly improve, since “women are more conscientious, prudent, and tolerant.”
Gayane Sargsyan contributed this article to the Caucasus news site JAMnews. Transitions has done some editing for length and context. Published in partnership with Free Press for Eastern Europe.