IWPR – Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
No. 537, March 26 2010
LONG WAY TO GO FOR ARMENIA’S WOMEN
Slow progress towards equality in public life.
By Gayane Abrahamyan in Yerevan
Although three-quarters of women in Armenia have been through higher
education, there have only been four female ministers since the
country became independent in 1991.
Only one woman` in Shirak in 2007 ` has ever been named as a regional
governor.
The figures reveal the extent of the gender divide in the former
Soviet country where, despite formal equality of the sexes in law,
women still battle to achieve the goals open to men.
The highest post a woman has ever held in the country is that of
deputy speaker. Arevik Petrosyan, a member of parliament from
Prosperous Armenia, part of the ruling coalition, was elected to the
post in September 2007.
She is one of only 12 women in the 131-member assembly. This may look
like a depressing proportion for equality activists, but it is a step
forward of sorts, since only seven women held seats in the previous
parliament.
A similar rise ` albeit from a low base ` is visible at lower levels
of the state. In 2005, only 16 of the country’s 866 village
administrations were headed by women. Now there are 23.
But activists still point out that women are absent from all the top
positions in the country.
`It’s true that they are now more tolerant towards women, but the top
positions are still inaccessible,’ said Jemma Hasratyan, founder and
president of the Association of Women with a Higher Education.
She has several explanations for why women remain excluded from the elite.
According to a sociological survey conducted in 2006, more than 30 per
cent of people think women miss out on top positions because of male
chauvinism in society. Another 15 per cent blame corruption for their
absence.
Curiously, however, the survey also showed that 60 per cent of men and
83 per cent of women said they supported greater female participation
in politics, which was a significant increase on five years
previously.
Lilit Zaqaryan, vice-president of the Association of Women, said the
roots of discrimination went so deep that it was hard to isolate them.
`The problem lies in the depths of the subconscious. In a survey, many
people will support having a woman in the cabinet, then during an
election they will automatically choose a man. This is because at the
deepest level of the subconscious, only a man is thought of as a
politician or leader,’ she said.
This was confirmed by Alvard Petrosyan, a woman who has been elected
to parliament three times. `Women trust men mainly out of habit, which
to a greater or lesser extent affects everyone,’ she said.
Another explanation put forward for why women miss out on top
positions is that they spend time with their families, thus harming
their careers. This is contradicted, however, by two mothers elected
to parliament ` one from the ruling party, one from the opposition.
`Of course it was not easy, but you need resolve and hard work to get
ahead,’ said Hermine Naghdalyan, who has five children and represents
the president’s party in parliament. Her large family has not stopped
her being elected four times.
The 50-year-old first entered parliament in 1995, seeing off
challenges from 19 rivals in the election.
`It was hard. As a rule, the political game is aggressive, and
normally it’s a fight without rules. But a woman can dictate her own
rules, which are more humane and more successful,’ said Naghdalyan,
adding that her family’s support had been very important for her to
overthrow traditional stereotypes.
Sociologists say women are also excluded from the political arena
because positions are gained through back-room deals ` something women
are often excluded from.
Armine Ghazaryan, an expert from the Armenian Centre for Strategic and
National Investigations who has looked into the reasons for the gender
divide, said this `unique culture for resolving matters’ blocks women
from advancing.
`Various circles, spheres and groups are an inalienable part of a
state like ours ` corruption, powerful shadowy figures, the police,
the organised criminals, the oligarchs. It is specifically this way of
solving problems that rules out the possibility of women taking part,’
he said.
Anait Bakhshyan of the opposition Heritage party picked up on these allegations.
`Men know well that in most cases, women are not going to take part in
dirty deals and will not take part in business outside the law,’ he
said.
Aharon Adibekyan, a researcher from the think tank Sociometr, said
such explanations were too complicated, and that the real reason for
women’s exclusion from public life was the fact that traditional roles
persisted in most families. Women cook and raise families while men go
out to earn money.
`You cannot speak of serious progress when in 67 per cent of cases
there is psychological pressure in families, which normally means that
women are not able to work,’ he said.
The Heritage party ` which counts three women among its seven members
of parliament, compared with just two among the 64 deputies of the
ruling Republican Party ` is determined to change this.
`Women are the majority of the population, and they must be given a
chance to be heard,’ said Raffi Hovhannisyan, leader of the Heritage
party. `Without this, democracy is impossible.’
Gayane Abrahamyan is a correspondent for ArmeniaNow.