Women`s rights are often violated by the employers, women employees face a discriminatory approach in terms of the issues of hiring, remuneration et al., said Gayane Gevorgyan, the Regional Coordinator of the Armenian Young Lawyers Association`s office in Gyumri, during the training on the topic “Women`s Rights” held in Gyumri.
The training is organized in the framework of “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” project is implemented by the Armenian Young Lawyers Association NGO with financial support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Republic of Armenia.
G. Gevorgyan presented the women`s employment rights which are set both by domestic and international legal acts.
Very often women with the same level of education and professional skills do not get hired just because being a woman: “The employers are not willing to teach knowledge and skills, to invest in an employee who may take a maternity leave in a short while”, said G. Gevorgyan.
One of the Training participants, Head of the Department on Family, Women`s and Children`s Rights Protection of the Shirak Governor`s Office Lusine Ginosyan brought a new example on this matter: her daughter was not hired with a justification of her being engaged.
The participants of the discussion when speaking of employment rights were saying that currently they still encounter cases when a woman is not allowed to have a certain job by the family, connecting it with ethical norms. There are even cases when a woman is prohibited to study a certain profession. One of the participants present at the discussion even recalled a case when it wasn`t much acceptable by the society for a girl to become a psychologist.
Member of the AYLA Board Syuzanna Soghomonyan presented the women`s reproductive rights, including legal issues of sex-selective abortions.
Legal adviser of the AYLA, advocate Mariam Zadoyan introduced Armenia’s commitments under international treaties, and practical ways of enforcing women’s rights.
She mentioned that Armenia ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by which the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been established. Armenia ratified the Optional Protocol of this Convention which provides a Communications Procedure which allows either individuals or groups of individuals to submit individual complaints to the Committee.
Let us remind that the training was organized in the framework of the “Influencing Women`s Rights Agenda” Project implemented by the Armenian Young Lawyers Association (AYLA) with the financial support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Republic of Armenia. In the framework of the project free legal consultations are provided on women`s rights issues in Yerevan and 4 regions of the RA, starting from 1 May 2015.
