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OXFAM: GENDER EQUALITY IN ARMENIA STARTS FROM INVOLVEMENT OF WOMEN IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY'S ACTIVITY
/ARKA/
JUNE 19, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, June 19. /ARKA/. Margarita Hakobyan, head of the Armenian
office of Britain's Oxfam organization is convinced that gender
equality in Armenia starts fr om involvement of women in the National
Assembly's activity, since all those laws relating to women's rights
are worked out exactly there.
Speaking Tuesday at a discussion focused on women's participation in
the recent parliamentary elections, she said that Oxfam, in cooperation
with The Caucasus, a center for social science studies, and the Civic
Society Partnership Network, had organized and conducted a series
of events in pre-election period and monitored the post-election
situation in the context of female candidates' participation.
"Although participation in election processes is not a usual activity
for Oxfam, gender equality has always been one of the key components
of the organization's policy," she said. "Today involvement of
nongovernmental organizations in election and political processes is
a demand of time."
Hakobyan pointed out observance of the gender harmony principle by the
authorities as one of the most important components of representative
democracy and said that the international experience has shown that
rights of children, women and socially vulnerable segments of the
society are protected better in those countries whose parliaments'
30% consists of women.
Women make up only 10.7% of the new National Assembly elected in the
May 6 parliamentary elections, although an amendment to the national
election legislation, pushed through by nongovernmental organizations,
set a 20 percent quota for women in party lists.
Astghik Petrosyan, executive director of The Caucasus, who spoke
at the discussion as well, presented the results of an expert study
conducted together with Oxfam to identify factors hindering involvement
of women in political activity in Armenia.
The study has singled out presence of criminals in political struggle
and rudeness as well as women's routine household and family problems,
limited income and electoral bribery as strongest factors.
The second group of factors includes the shortage of in-party democracy
and women promotion mechanisms, ineffectiveness of the government's
gender inequality elimination policy, stereotypes which shape distrust
of women who seek membership in the parliament, women's self-distrust,
their inferiority complexes and cautiousness, patriarchal mindset
and husbands and relatives' negative stance on the matter.
The third group of factors includes the lack of political activity and
enthusiasm among women, their insufficient experience in political
activity, insufficient awareness of political struggle and election
technologies and a weak support from the mass media.
Some 45.2% of respondents pointed out women's family-oriented approach
as major obstacle, 35.1% self-distrust, 33.5% public non-confidence
in female politicians, 29.2% few women-promoting mechanisms and 28.3%
family members and relatives' negative attitude.
Representatives of civil society, nongovernmental organizations and
the media as well as female politicians took part in the discussion.
Larissa Alaverdyan, the first ombudsman of Armenia and a former MP,
said that the small number of women in the present parliament is
first of all caused by passivity of women themselves.
"We should blame nobody, we shouldn't complain about the system's
faults," she said. "Why women wait for someone else to remedy the
situation? Women should struggle instead of waiting that things will
change themselves."
Lilit Galstyan, a member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutiun party and a former MP, said that gender inequality in
the country is connected with insufficient democracy.
"This is resulted from the fact that we live in a society wh ere
everybody's rights are violated," she said adding that there will be
no gender equality here without democracy.
The summary of this discussion will be available in The Caucasus
center's study "Gender Analysis of Parliamentary Elections in Armenia
on May 6, 2012", which will be released in September.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
/ARKA/
JUNE 19, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, June 19. /ARKA/. Margarita Hakobyan, head of the Armenian
office of Britain's Oxfam organization is convinced that gender
equality in Armenia starts fr om involvement of women in the National
Assembly's activity, since all those laws relating to women's rights
are worked out exactly there.
Speaking Tuesday at a discussion focused on women's participation in
the recent parliamentary elections, she said that Oxfam, in cooperation
with The Caucasus, a center for social science studies, and the Civic
Society Partnership Network, had organized and conducted a series
of events in pre-election period and monitored the post-election
situation in the context of female candidates' participation.
"Although participation in election processes is not a usual activity
for Oxfam, gender equality has always been one of the key components
of the organization's policy," she said. "Today involvement of
nongovernmental organizations in election and political processes is
a demand of time."
Hakobyan pointed out observance of the gender harmony principle by the
authorities as one of the most important components of representative
democracy and said that the international experience has shown that
rights of children, women and socially vulnerable segments of the
society are protected better in those countries whose parliaments'
30% consists of women.
Women make up only 10.7% of the new National Assembly elected in the
May 6 parliamentary elections, although an amendment to the national
election legislation, pushed through by nongovernmental organizations,
set a 20 percent quota for women in party lists.
Astghik Petrosyan, executive director of The Caucasus, who spoke
at the discussion as well, presented the results of an expert study
conducted together with Oxfam to identify factors hindering involvement
of women in political activity in Armenia.
The study has singled out presence of criminals in political struggle
and rudeness as well as women's routine household and family problems,
limited income and electoral bribery as strongest factors.
The second group of factors includes the shortage of in-party democracy
and women promotion mechanisms, ineffectiveness of the government's
gender inequality elimination policy, stereotypes which shape distrust
of women who seek membership in the parliament, women's self-distrust,
their inferiority complexes and cautiousness, patriarchal mindset
and husbands and relatives' negative stance on the matter.
The third group of factors includes the lack of political activity and
enthusiasm among women, their insufficient experience in political
activity, insufficient awareness of political struggle and election
technologies and a weak support from the mass media.
Some 45.2% of respondents pointed out women's family-oriented approach
as major obstacle, 35.1% self-distrust, 33.5% public non-confidence
in female politicians, 29.2% few women-promoting mechanisms and 28.3%
family members and relatives' negative attitude.
Representatives of civil society, nongovernmental organizations and
the media as well as female politicians took part in the discussion.
Larissa Alaverdyan, the first ombudsman of Armenia and a former MP,
said that the small number of women in the present parliament is
first of all caused by passivity of women themselves.
"We should blame nobody, we shouldn't complain about the system's
faults," she said. "Why women wait for someone else to remedy the
situation? Women should struggle instead of waiting that things will
change themselves."
Lilit Galstyan, a member of Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Dashnaktsutiun party and a former MP, said that gender inequality in
the country is connected with insufficient democracy.
"This is resulted from the fact that we live in a society wh ere
everybody's rights are violated," she said adding that there will be
no gender equality here without democracy.
The summary of this discussion will be available in The Caucasus
center's study "Gender Analysis of Parliamentary Elections in Armenia
on May 6, 2012", which will be released in September.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress