By Hannah Brandt
CRRC-Armenia Intern
The Armenian ‘Velvet Revolution’ saw
Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s Prime Minister and head of the Republican Party of
Armenia (RPA), who was clinging onto power beyond his tenure as the country’s
president from 2008-2018, effectively ousted. Protestors called for Sargsyan’s
resignation, more transparency in politics, as well as the end of corruption, nepotism and economic inequality created under the Republican Party’s entrenched rule. The protest
movement united Armenian citizens, and also women took the streets of whom many
were seen carrying signs stating: “Women belong in the kitchen revolution”. And indeed, women, as the new Armenian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged during an interview with the French
radio station Radio France Inter (RFI), were, together with the youth, the main motors of the revolution. He praised
the immense and unprecedented participation of women during the ‘Velvet
Revolution’. Nonetheless, when asked about the retention of the status quo
in what concerns gender equality in Armenian politics, he
remarked that “things have evolved too
quickly for this balance of power to be reflected in the composition of the
government. Civil activism has not yet turned into political activism”. In a press statement Pashinyan voiced that the new government
will work to advance women’s rights in Armenia and work to engage more women ingovernment.
There is a lot of work ahead of the
new government on this issue. In fact, since 2010 there have never been more
than three women ministers in the government structure and no women governors (marzpet). Most of the women ministers
filled rather gender stereotypical positions, such as in the Ministry of
Culture and the Ministry of Diaspora. Furthermore, out of 6,164 local council
members (avagani) in Armenia, only 534 are women (8.6%), according to 2011 figures
from the Central Election Commission. The share of women in the National
Assembly is close to 11% despite a quota prescribed in the Electoral Code of
2016 requiring 20% of candidates on every party’s election list
(=before the election) to be female.
This political constellation is reflected in The GlobalGender Gap Report 2017 which ranks the Republic of Armenia within the last 25 percent of the
world countries in what concerns political empowerment (111th), women in
parliament (93rd), women in ministerial positions (106th) and years with female
head of state (69th). The Global Gender Gap Report (GGGR) published annually by
the World Economic Forum, ranks countries on a scale from zero to one, based on
the female-to-male ratio, in terms of women’s economic participation,
educational attainment, health and political empowerment in international
comparison. Armenia, ranking 97th (out of 144 countries) in 2017, with a 0.677
score, is just one place ahead of Azerbaijan (0,676) and 3 places behind of
Georgia (0,679). A somber reflection of gender equality in the South Caucasus
with these states ranking close to countries such as Tajikistan (95th),
Cambodia (99th), China (100th) and Malawi (101st) [Figure 1].
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| Figure 1: The Global Gender Gap Report 2017.Ranking of 144 world countries based on the female-to-male ratio in economics, education, health and politics. In this graph countries are categorized and compared in the space of their geo-spatial limits. |
In an interviewwith Aghasi Tadevosyan, the researcher at the National
Academy’s Institute for History, Archeology and Ethnography points out that “in
our country [Armenia] not only the clear differences between men and women have
been preserved, but also the stereotype that the employment of women is
humiliating. Furthermore, a man who works in many social situations can be
ridiculed, disrespected or even insulted.”
This analysis of gender roles may
appear poignant, but around 10 percent of Armenian men discourage their wives from working. What’s more, gender stereotypes are imminent
in the Armenian culture and may be retrieved in public speeches given by
Armenian politicians. In fact, speeches delivered between 2013 and 2015 on the
national holidays dedicated to women - March 8, Women’s Day, and April 7,
Motherhood and Beauty Day, stressed the importance of “beauty” (mentioned 75 times*), “happiness” (49), “warmth” (45), “care” (18), “kindness” (26)
and “to glorify” (16). In contrast, political
references such as “rights” (5), “struggle” (5) and “citizen” (1) were barely mentioned.
* 50 different speeches
addressing the March 8 and April 7 holidays in Armenia were analyzed. In total
6,093 distinctive words were articulated. From these 6,093 words, the total amount
of the noun “beauty” being uttered amounted to 75. Further details may be found
at:
http://www.feminism-boell.org/en/2016/04/01/women-politics-and-political-texts-armenia
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Figure 2: The Global Gender Gap Report Country Scorecard
of Armenia.
In this graphic the
Armenian scores in the sectors of Economy, Education, Health and Politics are
compared with the 2017 average score of all evaluated countries.
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There is a tendency though, showing that the better the education the stronger the opposition to this statement. When cross tabulating the statement by the different educational categories, one perceives that from the divisions of “no formal education”, “primary school”, “secondary (university preparatory)” to “university degree” the overall percentage negation of the statement raises from 0, through 18 and 27 percent to 30 percent. [Figure 3] Remarkable though is that this comes from women only. When including the variable “respondent’s sex” in a regression model, one observes that men’s approval rests at a stable 70 percent, whilst women’s approval diminishes from the same percentage, to 43% for women with a university degree. [Figure 4]
* The complete statement read
“On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do”. Possible
answers were “ strongly agree”, “agree”, “disagree”, “strongly disagree”, “no
answer” and “don’t know”. They were regrouped into three categories: “agree”,
“disagree” and “don’t know”. A total of 1,100 individuals were interviewed.
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Figure 3: World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010-2014) Cross Tabulation of
the statement “On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do”
by highest educational level attained
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Figure 4: World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010-2014)
Cross Tabulation of the statement “On the whole, men make better
political leaders than women do” by respondent’s gender.
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Current tendencies
As data from the Caucasus Barometer shows that younger people are statistically more educated [Figure 5] than their older
counterparts, one may infer further involvement from women to fight gender bias in
politics. A predominant example for this has been the involvement of Anna
Hakobyan, in the political rallies of her husband, Nikol Pashinyan. By giving
political speeches by his side and partly taking over the organisation of the
protests, she stands as role model for future female leaders in the political
sphere. And also Lena Nazaryan, a member of the “Way Out” faction, could always be seen at the rallies as a civic activist.
Furthermore, political scientist
Arthur Atanesyan noted about the Armenian ‘Velvet Revolution’ that a “sexual revolution” took place. “People who were accustomed to hiding their emotions
for social and cultural reasons were kissing freely on the streets”. This gives
hopes to a further dissolving of rigid gender roles in the future.
Albeit there being female deputy ministers and
female heads of municipalities, solely two women, Mane Tandilyan - the vice chair of the Bright
Armenia Party (Yelk alliance) - and Lilit Makunts -an Associate Professor at the
Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan-, have been appointed to the
higher positions of Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and Minister of
Culture respectively, of the new cabinet.
Supposing that
Pashinyan’s promise of engaging more women in the new government (he is keeping
the same ration up as before the revolution) appears neglected, one must bear in mind, that it takes time to build a wider
pool or women politicians to engage on the national political landscape.
The next parliamentary elections,
which should be held within a year of the revolution, will show how and to what
extent the female ‘Velvet Revolution’ has taken place and has transformed female
civic activism into political activism.
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Figure 5: Caucasus Barometer 2017 Armenia
Cross Tabulation of the question “Highest level of education you have
achieved” by age group.
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