“Once I was refused to be accepted to work saying that I am not married. The second time I was denied, because the employer saw a potential mother in me,” Advocate Gayane Gevorgyan, the Head of AYLA Shirak marz branch, said at the seminar on “Women’s Rights.”
Employers often refuse to hire pregnant women and newly married, considering the fact that after a short time they can go on maternity leave.
During the training organized in Gyumri in the framework of “Influencing the Women’s Rights Agenda” project, Gayane Gevorgyan spoke about the labor rights of women, vested in the domestic as well as in international legal instruments.
According to the speaker, currently, there are no provisions that protect the individuals wishing to exercise their rights from the employer’s revenge. Women also lack legal protection if subjected to sexual harassment, on the assumption of the fact that sexual harassment is not considered as a legal problem.
Gayane Gevorgyan also noted that problems occur in equal remuneration of men and women doing the same job. In particular, Gayane Gevorgyan brought an example from her practice when a woman accountant was dismissed because she had courage to tell the employer that the volume of the work that she did and the remuneration for it were not proportional. The employer had also “informed” her that he would find other options to dismiss her in case if she would be restored through the court procedure.
AYLA legal advisor, advocate Mariam Zadoyan, introduced information on women’s participation and introduced the international best practices. She spoke about legislative provisions of ensuring participation of women in legislative, executive and judicial powers, and local self government.
According to her one of the issues of concern is that the RA legislation lacks the norms which will insure women’s participation in the communities in local self government (Except that in Yerevan Council of Elderly). The legal provisions that ensure women’s participation in the Boards of Business Companies are missing as well.
Interestingly, some of the women participating in the training were against more inclusive women’s participation in local government as well as and other governmental sectors. “It is said give the office to the woman and run away,” advocate Kristina Dermirchyan said. She also remembered a e women head of Civil Status Registration Offices and a woman judge with whom it was really difficult to work.
However the other part of the participants did not agree with this saying the problem is no in the gender but was related with human and professional qualities.
“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.
