According to Vice Speaker of the National Assembly Lena Nazaryan, women’s representation in the legislative and judicial branches of the Armenian government is too low. Only 31 of the 132 deputies in parliament are women. There is only one female minister and no female governors. Thirteen of the 45 deputy ministers are women, and six of the 37 ambassadors are women. Lena Nazaryan spoke about this with reporters during a panel titled ‘Promoting Women’s Political Participation in Armenia.’
She said that discussions have been initiated in the government and in parliament to include women in executive decisions. According to her, the gender quota in the Electoral Code should be raised to 40 percent. “The representation of one gender in the Electoral Code should not be more than 70 percent. I suggest that it should be no more than 60 percent. So, we need to raise the women’s quota to 40 percent.” She also noted that the professional side is also essential, but she does not have any doubts about the quality of women’s professionalism.
Aravot Daily asked her about why the government was unable to include women in different parts of the government, especially since women’s participation in the ruling party is particularly high. Lena Nazaryan had difficulty responding to the question, but then she said, “We tried to look for female ministers for a long time, but we weren’t able to find any at the time. We have the same goals, though. We are trying to establish legislative foundations so that we don’t take any steps back even if there is a change in government.”
Nelly Grigoryan
