FORUM SYNOPSIS:
WOMEN ISSUES IN ARMENIA (1 NOVEMBER 2006)
On Wednesday, November 1 Depi Hayk organized a forum dedicated to Women's Issues in Armenia. The invited speaker was Lara Aharonian, Director of the Women's Resource Center (in Armenia, called Kanayq Hayots). She repatriated to Armenia 4 years ago from Canada.
She founded the Kanayq Hayots Center in July 2003. A graduate of Concordia University in 2003, her field of study was the Armenian women's movement in the 19th century and feminist writings of the same century in Constantinople and France. She also holds a bachelor's degree from Universite de Montreal in Educational Psychology and worked as an educator with young offenders and delinquents.
Lara Aharonian began her speech with the introduction of the different conventions on gender issues that Armenia has signed. One of them is the convention called "Women in War and Women in Conflict" underlining the importance of the role of women in peace negotiations. "This convention is very important for our country because Armenia is in conflict with Azerbaijan and it is very important to involve women in peace negotiations" she said.
Ms. Aharonian stated that Armenia has very good legislation concerning the protection of individuals, including women, but unfortunately the laws remain on paper and the real situation is much more complicated. The outside impression is often different than the reality.
Ms. Aharonian said that their center is working in different arenas to help women protect their rights. The Center organizes different seminars and roundtables, where participants discuss different issues related to women. Ms. Aharonian pointed out the very interesting fact that although the majority of the university students are female, many of the more lucrative employment opportunities are generally off limits to women.
The Center also concentrates on sexual education, a very important issue in Armenia. Ms. Aharonian said that the teachers and professors in schools and universities who are responsible for those courses very often do not feel comfortable talking about the subject, and as a result, leaving young people to learn by themselves. "Often the gap in sexual education causes such consequences such as abortions which is a primary means of contraception in Armenia today", she said.
The Center also works on feminism issues. Ms. Aharonian mentioned that the term "feminism" has a much more negative connotation in Armenia than in West. The specialists at the Center try to dispel those stereotypes. "We also work a lot on publications" Ms. Aharonian said. "We try to discuss issues relating to women that many people are afraid to discuss. Those issues include trafficking, prostitution and domestic violence which are very actual problems for today's Armenia" she emphasized and added that the journal published by the Center is the only feminist journal in Armenia.
Talking about the issue of domestic violence, Ms. Aharonian particularly stated that the main problem is that many women think that the violence can be only physical. "For many of them the fact that husbands would not let them work or even communicate with their parents is not considered to be violence. We try to explain to them what to do and how to protect their rights" she said.
"We also talk about sexual harassment which is widespread in universities especially in the last year before graduation. This issue is very ominous but it is rarely reported. For that reason our Center also offers the services of professional psychologists." she concluded.
There are a lot of women organizations in Armenia but the uniqueness of Kanayq Hayots is that it is the only drop-in center, no appointments needed. She also said that they have plans to open another center in Shoushi.
The Center's website is: http://www.armenianwomen.am/history.php
