“Until now, March 8 was the day of beauty and flowers, and was losing its true meaning,” said the Head of the Women’s Resource Center Lara Aharonyan in an interview with Aravot.am. She mentioned that she attaches great importance remind the public on March 8 that there are still problems in Armenia in the sphere of defense of women’s rights, “Women being the majority have problems in many spheres. Certainly, the fight is not only for today, we are fighting all year but this day being a symbolic day, I think, it is important to raise these issues raise a little and make them more public.”
To the question of specifying those problems, Lara Aharonyan replied, “We have problems in many different spheres, starting from the politics where women are not involved, being the 52 percent, the majority, only 9 percent is involved in the decision-makers in different political layers. Economically, women are much more in the poor and are much fewer although their education is much more. There are no women in high economic spheres, in the management, and their wages are much lower. The data were published yesterday that women receive 36% fewer wages in different spheres. Likewise, regarding the violence, we do not have a law on domestic violence, which are many and there are no mechanisms to respond adequately. There is the following approach in the society that there is no problem, women’s rights are not violated, these stereotypes furthermore hamper us to reach true equality.”
Lara Aharonyan noted that not only organizations dealing with the defense of women’s rights should be engaged in these matters but also women themselves, “This is for everybody’s life. Women being in different spheres must address this issue. While, specific organizations are able to raise the issues in the more institutional way, defend the interests in different government layers and to try to create mechanisms together with the state as much as possible. But the fight must come from everybody, it is not a fight by one organization or an individual.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
