Women’s rights are respected in Karabagh

15/03/2006 Anahit DANIELYAN

The number of women rose during the post-war period in Karabagh. In the beginning, when there still weren’t enough places to work, some men left for abroad in search of jobs.

The number of women exceeds that of men in some fields in Karabagh. Women are even representatives of the legislative and executive branches of government. For example, during the 2005 parliamentary elections, 3 mandates of the 33 were given to women. Even the minister of health of Karabagh is female and her name is Zoya Lazaryan. Six of the 12 school principals in the capital city Stepanakert are women. The last principal was appointed a couple of days ago.

Based on statistics, 4308 teachers teach at schools in Karabagh, of which 78.8% are females. 41.2% of school principals are female in general; 41.2% in village schools and 40.6% in cities. 68.4% of teachers teach in village schools and 65% are females. 55.9% of the 1428 students studying at the four state institutions are female. Out of the 6307 students studying at all seven state universities of Armenia, 40.3% are men and 59.7% are women. However, things are a little different in elementary schools. Out of the 2041 students who have received graduation certificates for the 2004/2005 school year, 1000 (49%) are girls. Boys make up 50% of the total number of students. Females are also active in commerce. The army is probably the place where there are not too many women. Women are also more active in society than men. There are many female journalists in Karabagh as well.