There are 106 rural communities in Syunik region, the heads of only 4 of those are women. For example, only one of the 39 Community heads in the area of Kapan is female.
According to Armine Manukyan, the Community head of Shervenants village, it is not hard to be the only woman leader for already 10 years. In this community the issues concerning women are not multiple, as is the population – only 66 citizens. The community was once an educational center, since 1901 a school has been functioning in the village, the school-children of the nearby villages have been getting education in Shervenants. Today the school is closed down, and the last pupil was Armine Manukyan`s child, who has been transferred to the city later.
The situation is the contrary in Lernadzor Village Hall, where 2 out of 13 employees are men. One of the female co-workers, Bella Ghazaryan mentioned that in Lernadzor the majority of women don`t have a job. As in the entire province, the mining industry is much developed here, and men have a job in those organizations as a rule, the women – not.
Susanna Martirosyan, Board member of the National Council of Women, compiling the provincial issues, mentioned that the political participation of women here is on a low level. Simultaneously she said that besides the developing mining industry, engineering and architectural thought is also progressing in the province. “The Industry has promoted a higher level of women`s participation in this sphere. The level of women with higher education is higher here than in other provinces”, said Mrs. Martirosyan.
Anna Voskanyan, Head of the Department on Family, Women`s and Children`s Rights at the Syunik Regional Administration, said that women apply to the regional municipalities with the legal relationship issues resulting from divorces.
As to the civic engagement, our interlocutor said that women in the Province show quite high level of activeness in the sphere of education. “57 of the School Directors are men, 69 are women, and the majority of the heads of pre-school institutions are women, we don`t have men”. There are 70 women employees at the Regional Municipality, but men prevail in the leading positions.
A training on the women`s rights was held in Kapan today for the CSOs and Local Self-Government representatives of Syunik Region.
President of the Armenian Young Lawyers` Association Mr. Karen Zadoyan highlighted trainings in such a format, he mentioned that the effective cooperation will not be limited to trainings, and later on joint projects will be implemented towards the protection of women`s rights.
The event was moderated by the Project`s Legal Adviser in Syunik – Ani Asatryan.
The training was launched with the Project`s Legal Adviser, lawyer Mariam Zadoyan`s lecture on the women`s participation issues, she spoke about the existing issues in our country and presented the best international practice and the legal acts.
Additionally, Mariam Zadoyan referred to Armenia`s international commitments and the practical ways for the enforcement of women`s rights.
The property rights was presented by the Project Expert, Lawyer Syuzanna Soghomonyan. Her next lecture was on the women`s reproductive rights, including the issues of sex-selective abortions.
The participants raised the issues of their concern through the questions and answers during the training, as well as held group works and watched videos relating to the topic.
At the end the participants and the speakers of the training highlighted that several social issues will be resolved through ensuring the women`s rights protection in the region, as well as in the entire republic.
“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.
Within the framework of the project the organization provides free legal advice on the women’s rights to citizens, in Yerevan and in 4 provinces of the RA, since 1 May, 2015.
Gevorg Tosunyan
