PRESS RELEASE
The National Citizens’ Initiative
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 375033, Armenia
Tel.: (+374 – 10) 27.16.00, 27.00.03
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46
E-mail: info@nci.am
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September 15, 2005

National Citizens’ Initiative Examines the Role of Women in Politics

Yerevan–The National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI) today convened a roundtable
on “Women in Politics.” The meeting brought together public and political
figures, community activists, analysts, experts, and media representatives.

Raffi K. Hovannisian, chairman of the Heritage Party and founder of NCI,
welcomed the audience with opening remarks and wished the participants
productive work. “Pursuant to its program focus on securing broad civil
participation and public empowerment and in particular on underscoring women
‘s and youth issues, NCI today enters a new phase.” Speaking about the role
played by Armenian women since the days of the first Republic of Armenia,
during the Soviet era, and in modern Armenia, he pointed out that women have
always been involved in politics, though their presence has carried largely
qualitative, not quantitative importance. “Armenia’s challenge in the new
age is to reconcile contemporary criteria and traditional values in a
societally healthy way,” Hovannisian said. By way of example, he recognized
the lady activists around the table and lauded their multiple qualities as
citizens, professionals, intellectuals, and family leaders.

The first speaker was Ruzan Khachaturian, the “Justice” alliance’s press
secretary and a candidate running for the post of Kentron district prefect
of Yerevan. In her intervention entitled “The Role of Women in the Fight for
Constitutional Order and Restoration of Legitimacy,” she mentioned that one
of the impediments standing in the way of establishing democracy in the
country is the fact that the halls of power have taken on an accentuated
male form which is often cruel and uses black PR in political processes.
According to Khachaturian, women are powerless and defenseless against them.
“Women refuse to utilize those methods which are employed today by some
Armenian politicians in order to keep their jobs and posts,” Khachaturian
said, describing her candidacy as a challenge against such type of
authority. In the words of Ruzan Khachaturian, the way out of this situation
lies in solidarity among women.

During her talk on “Women in Politics: The Unrevealed Civil Potential,”
chairwoman Nora Hakobian of the Women’s Republican Council presented some
compelling statistics. For instance, a bit better than the Vatican and San
Marino, Armenia comes in third from last in the rating chart published by
the Council of Europe which reflects the percentage of women’s involvement
in sociopolitical life. The other indices testify to the lack of women’s
participation in the Armenian experience. According to official statistical
data, women make up 51.8% of the entire population, 64% of those having a
university education, and 35% of those with a high academic degree. In the
meantime, women are nearly absent in the decision-making process, and at
best they work as consultants. While women occupy 30% of appointed political
positions in democratic countries, this figure is a mere 5-6% in Armenia. Of
the country’s 930 communities, only 13 have women as their local leader.
Assessing the constitutional precept of gender equality as solely
declarative and dysfunctional, Hakobian deemed as the outcome of women’s
lack of involvement the reality that “social, health care, environment
protection, and many other issues are not discussed at the parliament and
the government. Meanwhile, international practice demonstrates that such
matters are raised mainly by women, whereas men are inclined to broach
military, economic, financial, and similar issues.” Hakobian also raised an
alarm that the number of woman serving as deputy ministers has substantially
declined and will continue to dip in Armenia. “One of the guarantees for the
country’s development is the equal discovery and materialization of men’s
and women’s abilities,” she concluded.

Heritage Party board member and Derenik Demirchian High School principal
Anahit Bakhshian began her address on “Indivisible Responsibility for the
Political Legacy of the Country” with words of advice given by her late
husband Yuri, a former deputy speaker of parliament who fell victim to the
terrorism of October 27, 1999: “Instead of gossiping at home, go and become
a member in the party that shares your views and take part in the
state-building process.” It was in this way that Bakhshian explained her
becoming a member of the Heritage Party. According to her, it is unnatural
that although women constitute the majority of the population and educating
the young generation primarily falls upon their shoulders, they are
insufficiently represented in politics in particular. “We women educators
are accountable for the conduct and educational level of the politicians and
MPs of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. All of today’s officials possess a
university diploma but only a very few really have a true education,”
Bakhshian noted.

The remainder of the session was devoted to exchanges of views and policy
recommendations among the public figures and policy specialists in
attendance. Zaruhi Makhsudian of the Armenian ombudswoman’s staff was
concerned by the passiveness among young women in particular. Armenian
Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) analyst Alvard
Barkhudarian emphasized the imperative to surmount those strictures.
Appreciating this initiative by NCI, chairwoman Astghik Gevorgian of the
Union of Journalists proposed the holding of roundtables dedicated to women’
s issues in separate areas of interest. Participants also approved of Ruzan
Khachaturian’s candidacy as an extremely important precedent. ACNIS director
of research Stiopa Safarian brought forth the example of women’s wide
involvement in the social and political life of Finland and its rewarding
results. Also noteworthy were interventions by NCI program coordinator Edgar
Hakobian; NCI activists Siranush Hovhannisian, Gohar Isakhanian, Anna
Amirkhanian, and Vergine Grigorian; chairwoman Asia Hambardzumian of the
Heritage Party’s Ajapniak district; young party members Arpine and Hermine
Samvelian, Laura Virabian, and Arpine Parazian; and many others.

In his closing remarks, NCI coordinator Hovsep Khurshudian underlined the
topic’s significance for Armenia and Armenian society. “Traditionally, in
the first place, women have had a prominent place in Armenian family life
and ever since the establishment of the Republic of Armenia in 1918 in the
sociopolitical life of the country as well. During the Soviet years, we had
a number of female leaders, public and state figures. In addition, Armenian
women took active part in the democratic movement that led to the foundation
of today’s Republic of Armenia. Nonetheless, today women’s involvement in
public and political processes is extremely limited and consequently the
potential of our majority remains largely untapped. This is not an issue for
women alone; it is a nationwide concern. More active participation by women
in politics and within the country’s social life is the order of the day,
and this must be encouraged by the state in every respect,” Khurshudian
said.

The National Citizens’ Initiative is a public non-profit association founded
in December 2001 by Raffi K. Hovannisian, his colleagues, and fellow
citizens with the purpose of realizing the rule of law and overall
improvements in the state of the state, society, and public institutions.
The National Citizens’ Initiative is guided by a Coordinating Council, which
includes individual citizens and representatives of various public,
scientific, and educational establishments. Five commissions on Law and
State Administration, Socioeconomic Issues, Foreign Policy, Spiritual and
Cultural Challenges, and the Youth constitute the vehicles for the
Initiative’s work and outreach.

For further information, please call (37410) 27-16-00 or 27-00-03; fax
(37410) 52-48-46; e-mail info@nci.am; or visit