There are many women involved in business, female doctors, lawyers and journalists in Armenia, however, they don’t play a big role in politics. Men are against having women involved in politics, while women don’t have a total picture of what it’s like. The majority of women tend to stay out of politics and leave that up to men. However, when she tries to fit in the legislative, executive or judicial branch of government, she finds herself in front of the so-called “glass curtain”-she cannot see anything beyond the curtain, but there is something. Women have to overcome many obstacles to fit in politics. In any case, they always have to follow the rules and regulations set by men, at least in the beginning stage of their political career. Politics is like a game and once you are in, you have to play by the rules.
For many months now, people are talking about the role that women play in politics and their potential. Women form a majority in Armenia. So, why are there not as many female government members and MPs as men? Politics requires pragmatism. Based on the situation in Armenia, pragmatic Armenian political figures just do not accept women as politicians. Studies show that many women are actually against female politicians. If women form a majority in Armenia, then that means that, the majority of voters are women. If a female political figure puts up her candidacy, it is quite possible that many women will vote against her based on the fact that today’s female politician doesn’t have a lot of goals to accomplish and projects to implement.
There no mechanisms for raising the role women play in society. Not all women are born politicians and not all turn into one, especially since the woman has always been considered as the key to a happy family. If the woman decides to do two things at the same time, then she has to make ends meet. There is an increase in the number of women’s centers, associations and forums in Armenia and they are based on international experience and opinions of experts.
The U.S.’s opinion
On March 16, the IRC (Information Resource Center) of the U.S. Embassy held an online forum entitled “Women’s participation in politics” with Washington. People from all over the world were asking the elder coordinator on Women’s International Issues of the U.S. State Secretary Charlotte Ponticheli questions regarding this topic. This was the first time that Armenia was participating in such a forum and there were only two journalists: one from “168 hours” and the other from “Novoye Vremya”.
Most of the questions referred to women’s rights violations. Ponticheli agreed that male political figures manipulate female politicians and that there is a need to put in a lot of effort to show how serious they are about their jobs, rather than “being something put on for display”. This is very important for women living in third world countries who want to progress.
When a woman plans to get active in society, she has to leave family problems aside because you can’t juggle two things at once.
“Don’t you think that the woman loses her role in the family once she gets involved in politics?” In response to this, Ponticheli said:
“Sometimes it’s hard to be a mother and a politician at the same time. In America, we sometimes meet businesswomen, journalists and lawyers and we know that they are concerned about that too. How can you work and take care of the family at the same time? That is a difficult question and it requires time to think. We women need our husbands’ help. The politics that we lead help share family responsibilities because the parents have flexible jobs. That helps us maintain the balance.”
A family is all about the husband and wife working together and respecting each other. A family where the man respects the wife’s opinion and pays attention to what she thinks is considered democratic. The woman shouldn’t have a problem of being independent. Mrs. Ponticheli believes that people have to spread the word about this.
“Should women really fight for their rights, even if they don’t think that their rights have been violated?”
In response to this question, Mrs. Ponticheli said:
“Yes. Women must use their skills and knowledge of their rights to speak out. When we were talking about women’s knowledge, one of the African MPs said: ‘It’s very hard to fight for your rights when you don’t even know what they are.’ Women need to have an unlimited amount of information and knowledge of everything in order to be independent, speak out and pave the path towards success.”