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Panel at UN Explores Women's Empowerment and Sustainability in Armenia
by Nanore Barsoumian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/03/09/panel-at-un-explores-womens-empowerment-and-sustainability-in-armenia/
March 9, 2012
NEW YORK (A.W.)-The status of rural women worldwide was the focus of
the 56thsession of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56), held
in the United Nations headquarters in New York from 27 Feb.-9 March.
The two-week event brought together members of governments and civil
society, rural women, and the media to analyze and report on the
progress of initiatives laid out in the Beijing Platform for Action,
which aims for gender equality. During this year's session, the
Commission focused on the empowerment of rural women, their role in
development, and ending poverty and hunger. On March 2, as part of
these high-level panels, the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN,
together with Women's World Banking, CSW NGO Forum, and the Armenian
Relief Society (ARS), held a panel discussion titled `From Empowerment
to Sustainability: Financing, Leadership, and Health for Rural Women.'
The panelists with members of the audience (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
The panelists included Amb. Garen Nazarian, the permanent
representative of Armenia to the UN and a former chair of CSW; Mary
Ellen Iskenderian, the president and CEO of Women's World Banking
(WWB); Ambassador Meryl Frank, a former U.S. representative to CSW,
and current president and CEO of Makeda Global; and Stephanie Killian,
the chair of the ARS UN Committee and director of global resources for
J-Intersect. The event was moderated by Soon-Young Yoon, the chair of
CSW NGO Forum.
Below is a summary of what each panelist discussed.
Nazarian: `Present-day economic challenges as opportunities to
strengthen gender-responsive policies'
Nazarian began by saying that gender equality and the empowerment of
women are important aims both in themselves but also as a means for
achieving sustainable development goals.
`There is increasing recognition of the implications of a financial
and economic crisis on gender equality and development,' he said.
`Women's economic empowerment entails increasing women's access to
economic and financial resources in a broad sense, including resources
generated at the national level with budgets, trade, and development
assistance, productive resources such as land and property, and social
protection, employment, as well as financial services such as savings,
credit, remittances, and transfers,' he said, adding the latter was
particularly important for Armenia since two-thirds of its population
lives outside, and comprises the diaspora.
`Without access to economic resources a woman simply lacks protection,
and in particular rural women, who continue to be absent from key
decision-making processes shaping the allocation of economic and
financial resources and opportunities,' he said.
To promote the empowerment of rural women, gender-sensitive labor
market regulations need to be in place, he argued, in addition to the
promotion of
Amb. Garen Nazarian (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
concepts and regulations that empower women to refuse unpaid
care-work. Land reform laws and land partitioning projects are also
critical, he noted.
`In some countries, including Armenia, the global financial crisis has
resulted in a decline in resources available for promoting gender
equality, and has caused a shift in priorities, unfortunately,
resulting in the diversion of funds from projects aimed at gender
equality promotion in rural areas. I think we should see the
present-day economic challenges as opportunities to strengthen
gender-responsive policies on the national level,' Nazarian said.
`Because not addressing gender issues will only exacerbate the
existing crises.'
Frank: `Empowering women for local politics'
Passionate about empowering women, Frank described her involvement
throughout the world - with women MPs in Afghanistan, Jordan, and
Malawi; with basket weavers and widows in Kenya; and with women
interested in running for office in Morocco.
`I don't travel as an American ambassador. I travel as a woman who's
had experiences all over the world, and I want to share those
experiences with other women,' she said.
Frank was asked to keynote the first national conference on women and
politics in Armenia in 2011.
`What I found in Armenia was odd. Women are very well educated in
Armenia. Women are very capable and confident in Armenia. But what was
different about Armenia was they had no representation in politics.
What I found in Armenia was that these women were smart and capable
and ready to hold office... There really was no real good reason why
Armenia had a problem with [having women in office],' she said.
Frank then listed the following countries: Cambodia, Tunisia,
Tajikistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Uruguay, Dagestan,
Panama, and Burundi. She asked the audience whether they believed
Armenia ranked better, worse, or the same as the countries listed.
`They all rank better internationally than Armenia,' she said.
`Armenia ranks 108 in political participation, out of 135 countries
studied by the World Economic Forum. This doesn't make sense. Those of
you who know Armenia...let me ask you: Does this make sense?'
Amb. Meryl Frank (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
`No,' responded members of the audience.
`You shouldn't worry,' continued Frank, `because Armenia ranks just
after Chad, and does better than Kuwait, Fiji, Bahrain, Qatar, and
Oman.'
She then compared the percentage of women parliamentarians in
Afghanistan and Armenia, at 26 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
She added that a group in Armenia was pushing for a 30 percent
women-in-parliament quota. Fortunately, she said, the quota is going
to be 20 percent in Armenia. Although welcoming that improvement, she
said similar efforts needed to be underway on the local level to
secure the appointment or election of women to local offices. `I
believe there are 13 mayors out of 588 municipalities that are women.
This is a problem because this is the breeding ground for women. This
is where women learn to govern,' she said.
Frank, who has trained women around the world to legislate and govern,
explained the importance of a support structure for women politicians
in local offices, which ensures they are confident, experienced, and
effective once they reach the national level.
`When you look at this issue - the issue of women as members of
parliament, the issue of women governing - it's very important not to
make the argument that this is about equality... justice or...human
rights, because in fact this is about having a better government,' she
said. She then cited studies that show how boards function more
efficiently when women hold seats. `Women balance. Women tend to be
more risk-averse than men. So the idea here is that you have a balance
of perspectives on boards,' she said.
Armenia is not as productive as it should be, and this is directly
related to the absence of female voices in government. Armenia has
more educated women than educated men, Frank explained, adding, `Even
in fields [such as] education, where 90 percent of the teachers are
women - this is true everywhere by the way - the minister is a man, and
the high-level positions are filled by men.'
Frank's organization trains women, sharpens their governing skills,
and provides the government with a list of qualified women, `so they
can no longer say, `There are no qualified women.''
`My recommendations are that Armenia takes advantage of this
tremendous resource, that they look at women for local elected office,
that they look at women for national elected office, for local
appointed office, and national appointed office,' concluded Frank.
Killian: `Access to health services a key component of fight against poverty'
Killian began by describing the work the ARS has done over the past
century. `From the beginning our creation as a humanitarian
organization captured the nature of the Armenian woman to care and
nurture, and her uncanny ability to organize and plan. These
qualities, however, are present in all women of the world, especially
rural women and those stuck in poverty, who must run their households,
oftentimes creating something out of nothing.'
In 2010, she said, as the ARS evaluated its 100 years of service, it
resolved to grow from a global charity to a sustainable philanthropic
organization.
She then explained the importance of health and wellbeing of women as
the foundation for independence and development. `Rural women
especially face great challenges due to location and mobility that
affect their basic human rights including access to food, water, and
sanitation. Rural populations are less educated, have less access to
healthcare, exhibit more chronic diseases, and are more likely to be
excluded from financial services,' she said, adding that as a
caregiver and income generator, the challenges of rural women are even
higher, and medical expenses can place a tremendous strain on their
families.
`Access to health services and health protection is a key component of
the fight against poverty, as good health is a major driver of
economic development and a necessity to alleviate poverty,' she said.
Stephanie Killian and ARS Executive Director Jirayr Beugekian (photo
by Nanore Barsoumian)
Killian then talked about the services provided by the ARS Mother and
Child Clinic in the Armenian village of Akhourian, founded in 1997;
the Birthing Center established there in 2005; and the dental clinic
built in 2008.
She then briefly spoke about microfinancing services. `Creating a
development equation of microfinance - including microcredit, savings,
and insurance - with investing in healthcare for all women living in
poverty will produce results that will positively impact all areas of
a woman's life, her family, and her community. Financial inclusion and
healthcare are complementary and must be regarded in a comprehensive
solution to poverty. In some cases, delivering services in tandem,
like health education with credit service, increases the impact of
both.'
Iskenderian: `Financial empowerment'
Iskenderian spoke about Women's World Banking and its 39 partner
institutions that provide financial services to women in 27 developing
countries.
Serving 26 million clients worldwide, 80 percent of whom are women,
WWB is focused on assisting financial institutions that target rural
women clients with services geared specifically to that gender.
Iskenderian talked about the various services WWB provides, from
credit services to savings, insurance, and pension products. She said
women interact more with their financial institutions than men do.
They also value time and convenience much more than men do.
`The financial institution that thinks about the financial products
and services with [women's] life cycle needs - birth, birth of children,
building a house, getting married, the marriage of children, old age,
and unfortunately death - really are going to be much better aligned
with the ways that their female clients approach the financial
sector,' she said.
Confidentiality is an `absolute essentiality' for women, said
Iskenderian. `Women want to be able to save in a safe, secure place
and they view banks as being a place to do that. But they need to know
that their husbands, their family members, their neighbors, don't know
that they're saving and how much they're saving,' she said.
Financial education is the responsibility of the financial
institution, she said, as many rural women are illiterate.
Institutions have to bear in mind that rural women are less likely to
have access to property title or be able to pledge property as a
guarantee in applying for loan services that require collateral or
documentation, she said.
Iskenderian also spoke about the power of marketing, and how financial
institutions could project an image of empowerment and ambition that
would resonate
Mary Ellen Iskenderian (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
with women from different cultures.
Women often minimize or fail to recognize their own contributions to
the family income, she said. Referring to WWB's market research in
Paraguay, she explained how husbands there would often farm, while
their wives tended to the chicken, sold the eggs in the market, and
made the salsa to sell. `They had all these ongoing products that were
earning money, but when we talked to them, they'd say... `I am just a
housewife, and I make no contribution financially to the household.''
What the team found, however, was that 70 percent of the incoming cash
was coming from the women's eggs, chickens, and salsa.
WWB works with financial institutions `to look beyond women's
self-description of what she's contributing to the household,'
Iskenderian said, adding that `the financial institution that we're
working with is so excited, they think they discovered this truly
hidden market, and they'll have a differentiated advantage over other
financial institutions.'
Iskenderian also spoke about a health micro-insurance product that WWB
introduced in Jordan, where so many women were taking time away from
their businesses to care for a sick family member (the number one
reason worldwide, according to Iskenderian, that microenterprises were
being liquidated or de-capitalized). The policy charges `a fraction'
of what the women were saving every month for emergency needs, and in
return earns them a per diem up to 30 days to spend away from their
businesses, whether to care for a relative, or for their own sick
time. Since April 2010, Caretaker, the name of the product, sold
52,000 and received 2,100 claims.
***
(L-R) Stephanie Killian, Amb. Garen Nazarian, Mary Ellen Iskenderian,
Amb. Meryl Frank (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
In his closing remarks, Nazarian thanked the panelists and the
participants. `As a government we are open to these kinds of sincere
endeavors, discussions, and sometimes even criticism. That makes my
country different from those that Frank mentioned, and places Armenia
high on the list in the context of human rights and fundamental
freedoms,' he said. `We will continue the practice of holding these
kinds of conferences and events in Armenia and outside Armenia to
improve public awareness and also provoke more discussions within the
society,' he added.
ARS members and representatives of various NGOs from across the world
attended the event. Following the discussion, some participants and
panelists met at the Armenian Mission to the UN offices, where a
reception was held. Guests included Henriette Ahrens, the UNICEF
representative to Armenia.
by Nanore Barsoumian
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/03/09/panel-at-un-explores-womens-empowerment-and-sustainability-in-armenia/
March 9, 2012
NEW YORK (A.W.)-The status of rural women worldwide was the focus of
the 56thsession of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56), held
in the United Nations headquarters in New York from 27 Feb.-9 March.
The two-week event brought together members of governments and civil
society, rural women, and the media to analyze and report on the
progress of initiatives laid out in the Beijing Platform for Action,
which aims for gender equality. During this year's session, the
Commission focused on the empowerment of rural women, their role in
development, and ending poverty and hunger. On March 2, as part of
these high-level panels, the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN,
together with Women's World Banking, CSW NGO Forum, and the Armenian
Relief Society (ARS), held a panel discussion titled `From Empowerment
to Sustainability: Financing, Leadership, and Health for Rural Women.'
The panelists with members of the audience (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
The panelists included Amb. Garen Nazarian, the permanent
representative of Armenia to the UN and a former chair of CSW; Mary
Ellen Iskenderian, the president and CEO of Women's World Banking
(WWB); Ambassador Meryl Frank, a former U.S. representative to CSW,
and current president and CEO of Makeda Global; and Stephanie Killian,
the chair of the ARS UN Committee and director of global resources for
J-Intersect. The event was moderated by Soon-Young Yoon, the chair of
CSW NGO Forum.
Below is a summary of what each panelist discussed.
Nazarian: `Present-day economic challenges as opportunities to
strengthen gender-responsive policies'
Nazarian began by saying that gender equality and the empowerment of
women are important aims both in themselves but also as a means for
achieving sustainable development goals.
`There is increasing recognition of the implications of a financial
and economic crisis on gender equality and development,' he said.
`Women's economic empowerment entails increasing women's access to
economic and financial resources in a broad sense, including resources
generated at the national level with budgets, trade, and development
assistance, productive resources such as land and property, and social
protection, employment, as well as financial services such as savings,
credit, remittances, and transfers,' he said, adding the latter was
particularly important for Armenia since two-thirds of its population
lives outside, and comprises the diaspora.
`Without access to economic resources a woman simply lacks protection,
and in particular rural women, who continue to be absent from key
decision-making processes shaping the allocation of economic and
financial resources and opportunities,' he said.
To promote the empowerment of rural women, gender-sensitive labor
market regulations need to be in place, he argued, in addition to the
promotion of
Amb. Garen Nazarian (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
concepts and regulations that empower women to refuse unpaid
care-work. Land reform laws and land partitioning projects are also
critical, he noted.
`In some countries, including Armenia, the global financial crisis has
resulted in a decline in resources available for promoting gender
equality, and has caused a shift in priorities, unfortunately,
resulting in the diversion of funds from projects aimed at gender
equality promotion in rural areas. I think we should see the
present-day economic challenges as opportunities to strengthen
gender-responsive policies on the national level,' Nazarian said.
`Because not addressing gender issues will only exacerbate the
existing crises.'
Frank: `Empowering women for local politics'
Passionate about empowering women, Frank described her involvement
throughout the world - with women MPs in Afghanistan, Jordan, and
Malawi; with basket weavers and widows in Kenya; and with women
interested in running for office in Morocco.
`I don't travel as an American ambassador. I travel as a woman who's
had experiences all over the world, and I want to share those
experiences with other women,' she said.
Frank was asked to keynote the first national conference on women and
politics in Armenia in 2011.
`What I found in Armenia was odd. Women are very well educated in
Armenia. Women are very capable and confident in Armenia. But what was
different about Armenia was they had no representation in politics.
What I found in Armenia was that these women were smart and capable
and ready to hold office... There really was no real good reason why
Armenia had a problem with [having women in office],' she said.
Frank then listed the following countries: Cambodia, Tunisia,
Tajikistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Uruguay, Dagestan,
Panama, and Burundi. She asked the audience whether they believed
Armenia ranked better, worse, or the same as the countries listed.
`They all rank better internationally than Armenia,' she said.
`Armenia ranks 108 in political participation, out of 135 countries
studied by the World Economic Forum. This doesn't make sense. Those of
you who know Armenia...let me ask you: Does this make sense?'
Amb. Meryl Frank (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
`No,' responded members of the audience.
`You shouldn't worry,' continued Frank, `because Armenia ranks just
after Chad, and does better than Kuwait, Fiji, Bahrain, Qatar, and
Oman.'
She then compared the percentage of women parliamentarians in
Afghanistan and Armenia, at 26 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
She added that a group in Armenia was pushing for a 30 percent
women-in-parliament quota. Fortunately, she said, the quota is going
to be 20 percent in Armenia. Although welcoming that improvement, she
said similar efforts needed to be underway on the local level to
secure the appointment or election of women to local offices. `I
believe there are 13 mayors out of 588 municipalities that are women.
This is a problem because this is the breeding ground for women. This
is where women learn to govern,' she said.
Frank, who has trained women around the world to legislate and govern,
explained the importance of a support structure for women politicians
in local offices, which ensures they are confident, experienced, and
effective once they reach the national level.
`When you look at this issue - the issue of women as members of
parliament, the issue of women governing - it's very important not to
make the argument that this is about equality... justice or...human
rights, because in fact this is about having a better government,' she
said. She then cited studies that show how boards function more
efficiently when women hold seats. `Women balance. Women tend to be
more risk-averse than men. So the idea here is that you have a balance
of perspectives on boards,' she said.
Armenia is not as productive as it should be, and this is directly
related to the absence of female voices in government. Armenia has
more educated women than educated men, Frank explained, adding, `Even
in fields [such as] education, where 90 percent of the teachers are
women - this is true everywhere by the way - the minister is a man, and
the high-level positions are filled by men.'
Frank's organization trains women, sharpens their governing skills,
and provides the government with a list of qualified women, `so they
can no longer say, `There are no qualified women.''
`My recommendations are that Armenia takes advantage of this
tremendous resource, that they look at women for local elected office,
that they look at women for national elected office, for local
appointed office, and national appointed office,' concluded Frank.
Killian: `Access to health services a key component of fight against poverty'
Killian began by describing the work the ARS has done over the past
century. `From the beginning our creation as a humanitarian
organization captured the nature of the Armenian woman to care and
nurture, and her uncanny ability to organize and plan. These
qualities, however, are present in all women of the world, especially
rural women and those stuck in poverty, who must run their households,
oftentimes creating something out of nothing.'
In 2010, she said, as the ARS evaluated its 100 years of service, it
resolved to grow from a global charity to a sustainable philanthropic
organization.
She then explained the importance of health and wellbeing of women as
the foundation for independence and development. `Rural women
especially face great challenges due to location and mobility that
affect their basic human rights including access to food, water, and
sanitation. Rural populations are less educated, have less access to
healthcare, exhibit more chronic diseases, and are more likely to be
excluded from financial services,' she said, adding that as a
caregiver and income generator, the challenges of rural women are even
higher, and medical expenses can place a tremendous strain on their
families.
`Access to health services and health protection is a key component of
the fight against poverty, as good health is a major driver of
economic development and a necessity to alleviate poverty,' she said.
Stephanie Killian and ARS Executive Director Jirayr Beugekian (photo
by Nanore Barsoumian)
Killian then talked about the services provided by the ARS Mother and
Child Clinic in the Armenian village of Akhourian, founded in 1997;
the Birthing Center established there in 2005; and the dental clinic
built in 2008.
She then briefly spoke about microfinancing services. `Creating a
development equation of microfinance - including microcredit, savings,
and insurance - with investing in healthcare for all women living in
poverty will produce results that will positively impact all areas of
a woman's life, her family, and her community. Financial inclusion and
healthcare are complementary and must be regarded in a comprehensive
solution to poverty. In some cases, delivering services in tandem,
like health education with credit service, increases the impact of
both.'
Iskenderian: `Financial empowerment'
Iskenderian spoke about Women's World Banking and its 39 partner
institutions that provide financial services to women in 27 developing
countries.
Serving 26 million clients worldwide, 80 percent of whom are women,
WWB is focused on assisting financial institutions that target rural
women clients with services geared specifically to that gender.
Iskenderian talked about the various services WWB provides, from
credit services to savings, insurance, and pension products. She said
women interact more with their financial institutions than men do.
They also value time and convenience much more than men do.
`The financial institution that thinks about the financial products
and services with [women's] life cycle needs - birth, birth of children,
building a house, getting married, the marriage of children, old age,
and unfortunately death - really are going to be much better aligned
with the ways that their female clients approach the financial
sector,' she said.
Confidentiality is an `absolute essentiality' for women, said
Iskenderian. `Women want to be able to save in a safe, secure place
and they view banks as being a place to do that. But they need to know
that their husbands, their family members, their neighbors, don't know
that they're saving and how much they're saving,' she said.
Financial education is the responsibility of the financial
institution, she said, as many rural women are illiterate.
Institutions have to bear in mind that rural women are less likely to
have access to property title or be able to pledge property as a
guarantee in applying for loan services that require collateral or
documentation, she said.
Iskenderian also spoke about the power of marketing, and how financial
institutions could project an image of empowerment and ambition that
would resonate
Mary Ellen Iskenderian (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
with women from different cultures.
Women often minimize or fail to recognize their own contributions to
the family income, she said. Referring to WWB's market research in
Paraguay, she explained how husbands there would often farm, while
their wives tended to the chicken, sold the eggs in the market, and
made the salsa to sell. `They had all these ongoing products that were
earning money, but when we talked to them, they'd say... `I am just a
housewife, and I make no contribution financially to the household.''
What the team found, however, was that 70 percent of the incoming cash
was coming from the women's eggs, chickens, and salsa.
WWB works with financial institutions `to look beyond women's
self-description of what she's contributing to the household,'
Iskenderian said, adding that `the financial institution that we're
working with is so excited, they think they discovered this truly
hidden market, and they'll have a differentiated advantage over other
financial institutions.'
Iskenderian also spoke about a health micro-insurance product that WWB
introduced in Jordan, where so many women were taking time away from
their businesses to care for a sick family member (the number one
reason worldwide, according to Iskenderian, that microenterprises were
being liquidated or de-capitalized). The policy charges `a fraction'
of what the women were saving every month for emergency needs, and in
return earns them a per diem up to 30 days to spend away from their
businesses, whether to care for a relative, or for their own sick
time. Since April 2010, Caretaker, the name of the product, sold
52,000 and received 2,100 claims.
***
(L-R) Stephanie Killian, Amb. Garen Nazarian, Mary Ellen Iskenderian,
Amb. Meryl Frank (photo by Nanore Barsoumian)
In his closing remarks, Nazarian thanked the panelists and the
participants. `As a government we are open to these kinds of sincere
endeavors, discussions, and sometimes even criticism. That makes my
country different from those that Frank mentioned, and places Armenia
high on the list in the context of human rights and fundamental
freedoms,' he said. `We will continue the practice of holding these
kinds of conferences and events in Armenia and outside Armenia to
improve public awareness and also provoke more discussions within the
society,' he added.
ARS members and representatives of various NGOs from across the world
attended the event. Following the discussion, some participants and
panelists met at the Armenian Mission to the UN offices, where a
reception was held. Guests included Henriette Ahrens, the UNICEF
representative to Armenia.