Women that want to make business in Armenia they do it. The reality in Armenia is like the women that do not want to do business they have to do it. Both the Constitution and electoral code write that the men and women have equal rights. Accordingly, it is planned to increase the presence of women in the legislative body and starting from the second number in the proportional lists every 20% in the lists should be women (at least one woman).
It is not the day of March 8, and it is not the time to discuss the issue of women. However, it turns out that there are reasons for that as the international organizations from time to time organize different events dedicated to women. People from other countries think that they should remind the Armenian women that they are not only for having children and washing dishes but also they can be involved in politics. By the way, in Armenia there are discussions concerning the OSCE/Yerevan office, OSCE democratic institutions and human rights office. The goal of such events is increasing the participation of women in Armenia’s political parties.
There is no gender discrimination in Armenia and people know it. Many people know this fact, except for the representatives of the “coalition to stop violence against women”. Recently they published an announcement, which says that in almost all soap operas the rights of women are violated and their roles are abused. According to them, in soap operas beating women and humiliating them have become a part of the scenarios concerning families, and it is not condemned.
However, we think that this coalition is exaggerating the situation because the scenarios of soap operas are so primitive that they will not affect the psychological situation of adults. It is hard to imagine that the governor of Syunik Surik Khachatryan beat businesswoman Silva Hambardzumyan under the influence of soap operas.
Another fact that proves that there cannot be discrimination against women in Armenia – in this country both men and women are not equal against the law equally. N some families women’s rights are abused, they are not allowed to work, but this is a local problem and is not a general issue. This can be a topic of seminar to describe the role of stupid men in politics and the society.
In the recent times the role of women in Armenia as changed and they are strong business and life. Maybe there are more men doing business or involved in politics, but it is a fact that in Armenia women are success and can do business. The fact that the number of men involved in business and politics is higher is not discrimination. It takes from many women 24 hours a day to take care of their home and children. Thus, for many women there is no time to show their professional skills and develop them.
The difference of the number of men and women is highly noticeable in the parliament as there are 131 MPs, and only 11 out of them are women. And all those women are beautiful, active and clever. Definitely Naira Zohrabyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Lilit Galstyan, Anahit Bakhshyan and Larissa Alaverdyan are the smartest and hardworking people in the parliament. Instead of that at least the half of the male MPs are stupid and arrogant. For example, recently the first baritone of MP Arakel Movsisyan was heard in the parliament.
Even his photographs appear on the media. It’s clear that the photographer hasn’t fixed Mr. Arakelyan while making an interesting legislative initiative. The MP was photographed with his hand raised in the direction of the NA nostrum and on his face you could clearly see the word “dork.” In our NA the fact of being smart and intelligent doesn’t mean at all that you can progress on the social grades. How hideous and obnoxious the behavior of the NA acting chair Samvel Nikoyan was at the parliament on that day when he dared to urge the NA MP to “wash his ears”! And what happened then? Right on the next day he was appointed NA chair. Everybody prepares for the parliamentary elections. Even the governor of Syunik pledged that the elections will be free and fair during his yesterday’s interview to Radio Liberty. The governor ensured that he was also going to do everything he could for the RPA victory. As of the women’s participation in the political life the leaders of the political parties even without the persuasions of international organizations have realized the indispensable role of women.
P.S. Arthur Rubenstein, a renowned musician, had a drastically viewpoint about women’s participation in politics. The orchestra he led didn’t have a single woman. “Pretty women are distracting the male musicians and the ugly ones are distracting me,” he said.