Women in Armenia

Women in Armenia

An Armenian young woman (19th century)
Gender Inequality Index
Value	0.340 (2012)
Rank	59th
Maternal mortality (per 100,000)	30 (2010)
Women in parliament	10.7% (2012)
Females over 25 with secondary education	94.1% (2010)
Women in labour force	59% (2014)
Global Gender Gap Index
Value	0.6634 (2013)
Rank	94th out of 136

Women in Armenia have been officially guaranteed gender equality since the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in 1991. This has enabled women to actively participate in all spheres of Armenian life. Armenian women have attained prominence in entertainment, politics and other fields.

Work and business

Painting of an Armenian woman (circa 1682)

According to the 2011 Grant Thornton International business survey, 29% of top-level managerial positions in Armenia were occupied by women in 2010. However, this figure declined to 23% in 2011. Based on a report by the United Nations, there were 24 female mayors and community leaders in Armenia in 2011; a further 50 women held lower-level administrative positions.

Domestic life

According to the World Health Organization, between 10% and 60% of Armenian women suffered domestic abuse and violence in 2002; the uncertainty of the data was due to the underreporting of domestic violence in Armenia. Underreporting is said to occur because of the treatment of domestic violence as a private family matter. There are no well-established laws against domestic aggression and gender-based prejudice in Armenia. Furthermore, divorcing a husband – even an abusive one – causes "social disgrace", with the families of women who file for divorce or report domestic violence being considered to be shamed. Other contributing factors include Armenian women's lack of, or lower level of, education regarding their rights and how to protect themselves from abuse.

Political status

In May 2007, through the legislative decree known as "the gender quota law", more Armenian women were encouraged to get involved in politics. That year, only seven women occupied parliamentary positions. Among these female politicians was Hranush Hakobyan, the longest-serving woman in the National Assembly of Armenia. The relative lack of women in Armenia's government has led to Armenian women being considered "among the most underrepresented" and "among the lowest in the world" by foreign observers. In addition, Armenian women's place in politics is often located in the private sphere. Often their entry in the public sphere is only valued when they reflect the image of the feminine ideal based on social expectations, which continue to put a barrier on the political, social, and economic accessibility for women.

Health and welfare

In 2010 and 2011, during Women’s Month and as part of the "For You, Women" charitable program, the Surb Astvatcamayr Medical Center in the Armenian capital of Yerevan offered free gynecological and surgical services to the women of Armenia for a full month. Women from across the country arrived seeking treatment.

Sex selective abortion

Sex selective abortion is reported as being a problem in the country, due to patriarchal social norms which consider having a son preferable to having a daughter. Nevertheless, due to strong emigration under the form of "brain drain", where young Armenian men go abroad in search of work, there are more young women than men in the country, especially among those in their 20s: women make up 55.8% of the population aged 15–29.

Literature

An Armenian woman in national costume poses on a hillside near Artvin (in present-day Turkey), circa 1910.

Main article: Armenian literature

The oldest literary expression by Armenian women available to us today in writing is the poetry of two 8th-century CE women, Khosrovidukht of Goghtn and Sahakdukht of Syunik. Following the Armenian literary renaissance of the 19th century, and the spread of educational opportunities for women, a number of other writers emerged, among them the 19th-century feminist writer Srpouhi Dussap, considered the first female Armenian novelist. She, like her contemporary, Zabel Sibil Asadour, is generally associated with Constantinople and the Western Armenian literary tradition. Zabel Yesayan, also born in Constantinople, bridged the gap with Eastern Armenian literature by settling in Soviet Armenia in 1933. The literary renaissance and its accompanying voice of protest also had its representatives in the East with poet Shushanik Kurghinian of Tiflis (1876-1927). Sylvia Kaputikyan and Maro Markarian are probably the best-known women poets from the Republic of Armenia of the 20th century, and continued the tradition of political speech through poetry.

Notable Armenian women

Notable Queens and Princesses

• Erato, Roman client Queen from 10 BC until 2 BC with her brother-husband King Tigranes IV
• Ashkhen, wife of Tiridates III of Armenia
• Isabella, Queen of Cilician Armenia (1219–1252)

Sirusho

modern Armenian women

• Zabel Yesayan (1878-1943), novelist, translator
• Silva Kaputikyan (1919-2006), one of the best-known Armenian writers of the 20th century
• Gohar Gasparyan (1924-2007), opera singer
• Lusine Zakaryan (1937-1992), soprano
• Galya Novents (1937-2012), stage and film actress
• Hasmik Papian (b. 1961), soprano
• Zaruhi Postanjyan (b. 1972), politician, activist, member of parliament
• Nazik Avdalyan (b. 1986), weightlifter, World champion
• Susianna Kentikian (b. 1987), professional boxer, former World Flyweight Champion
• Sirusho (b. 1987), pop singer, Armenian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

diaspora Armenian women (full Armenian ancestry)

• Irene Zazians (1927-2012), Iranian actress
• Sylvie Vartan (b. 1944), Bulgarian-born French singer and actress
• Kim Kashkashian (b. 1952), Grammy-award winning American violist
• Margarita Simonyan (b. 1980), Russian media executive
• Tatev Abrahamyan (b. 1988), Armenian-born American chess Grandmaster

notable women with partial Armenian ancestry

• Cher (b. 1946), American singer
• Irina Allegrova (b. 1952), Russian pop singer
• Kim Kardashian (b. 1980), American reality television personality
• Stephanie (b. 1987), Japanese singer-songwriter

See also

• Mother Armenia
• Politics of Armenia
• Crime in Armenia
• Union of Producers and Women
• Armenia women's national football team

External links

• Zohrab Center Book of the Week: The Other Voice: Armenian Women's Poetry Through the Ages. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
• Women’s Resource Center Armenia
• Armenia: Women Suffer in Silence. Amnesty.org. 13 November 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
• Women's Organisations Armenia