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ARMENIA MIGRATION EXODUS CREATES WOMEN-ONLY VILLAGES
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/10/armenia-migration-exodus-_n_923832.html
Aug 10, 2011
An estimated 60,000 Armenians are leaving their country each year in
search of a better life, and the mass exodus has caused a startling
new trend: whole villages populated almost entirely by women.
While many men are leaving the former Soviet nation to go to Russia
to earn enough money to support their families, women and children
are usually left behind to work in the fields, the BBC is reporting.
One mother-of-two said that many women fear their husbands will set
up second families in Russia, which has happened often. As Milena
Kazaryan, a resident of Dzoragyugh, tells the BBC:
"All of the women are really scared. We phone every morning and
every evening, to find out what our husbands are up to. It's always
really stressful wondering whether he'll come back or not. A lot of
the women here worry because they think that in Russia all the girls
are beautiful. And the problem is that the men work very hard so of
course they also want to relax. That's why they're scared.
It's really tough because the whole family is just waiting and
waiting for the men to come back. All we want is jobs in Armenia
so that our families can stay together and so that fathers can see
their children grow up. A family is more than just the mum. We need
the dads here too."
As one human rights activist writes, the lack of men is starting to
be felt throughout Armenian society, and the birthrate is already
starting to be affected. "There's a new generation of girls growing up
who have no chance of getting married because all the boys are leaving
the country," Karine Danelyan wrote in a letter to the government,
according to the BBC. "So birthrates here in Armenia are now too low
to keep the population stable."
Meanwhile, Armenia's prime minister recently tried to downplay
speculations about the mass exodus, and said the government has
had success in promoting the nation's birthrate. "Today we have 3
million permanent residents in Armenia, and twice as many Armenians
living outside the country," Tigran Sarkisian is quoted by the Arka
News Agency as saying. Noting that migration was not as large as
has been previously claimed by the media, he added, "This reflects
the mobility of our nation, that is, our citizens can move freely,
since there are favorable conditions for it."
Many of those migrants, Sarkisian said, were seasonal workers who
eventually return home, according to Radio Free Europe. When the
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Armenia had an estimated 4 million
residents, at least one-quarter of which have since emigrated for
employment abroad.
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/10/armenia-migration-exodus-_n_923832.html
Aug 10, 2011
An estimated 60,000 Armenians are leaving their country each year in
search of a better life, and the mass exodus has caused a startling
new trend: whole villages populated almost entirely by women.
While many men are leaving the former Soviet nation to go to Russia
to earn enough money to support their families, women and children
are usually left behind to work in the fields, the BBC is reporting.
One mother-of-two said that many women fear their husbands will set
up second families in Russia, which has happened often. As Milena
Kazaryan, a resident of Dzoragyugh, tells the BBC:
"All of the women are really scared. We phone every morning and
every evening, to find out what our husbands are up to. It's always
really stressful wondering whether he'll come back or not. A lot of
the women here worry because they think that in Russia all the girls
are beautiful. And the problem is that the men work very hard so of
course they also want to relax. That's why they're scared.
It's really tough because the whole family is just waiting and
waiting for the men to come back. All we want is jobs in Armenia
so that our families can stay together and so that fathers can see
their children grow up. A family is more than just the mum. We need
the dads here too."
As one human rights activist writes, the lack of men is starting to
be felt throughout Armenian society, and the birthrate is already
starting to be affected. "There's a new generation of girls growing up
who have no chance of getting married because all the boys are leaving
the country," Karine Danelyan wrote in a letter to the government,
according to the BBC. "So birthrates here in Armenia are now too low
to keep the population stable."
Meanwhile, Armenia's prime minister recently tried to downplay
speculations about the mass exodus, and said the government has
had success in promoting the nation's birthrate. "Today we have 3
million permanent residents in Armenia, and twice as many Armenians
living outside the country," Tigran Sarkisian is quoted by the Arka
News Agency as saying. Noting that migration was not as large as
has been previously claimed by the media, he added, "This reflects
the mobility of our nation, that is, our citizens can move freely,
since there are favorable conditions for it."
Many of those migrants, Sarkisian said, were seasonal workers who
eventually return home, according to Radio Free Europe. When the
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Armenia had an estimated 4 million
residents, at least one-quarter of which have since emigrated for
employment abroad.