“No political process in Armenia has had such a great deal of women’s involvement …”

More active participation of women and girls in the recent events in the country was visible to all. Many cameras have only been able to fix the fact that “no political process in Armenia has had such a great deal of women’s involvement …”.

Women joined the “My Step” movement when it was far from the “velvet revolution” and led by Nikol Pashinyan his party members just started their march from Shirak marz to Yerevan. Among them Lena Nazaryan, a member of the “Exit” faction, could always be seen. The number of women and girls participating in the protests increased when the march participants arrived in Yerevan. And when civil disobedience campaigns started, the girls were among the first ones who stood and lay in front of the lorry, closing the road. The women were in the first place among the speakers at the rally site …

The authors of many ideas made during the action were women.

It was no coincidence that during a rally at Republic Square on April 20, the NA deputy, Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the protests, confessed: “In my opinion, the most powerful driving force of this movement is our women, our sisters and our daughters. No political process in the history of the Republic of Armenia has had such a great deal of women’s involvement and this is a real pride for us, because the future of the country cannot be more worrying for someone else,  than for our mothers, our wives, our sisters and our daughters. Respect to all of you.”

“Anna is the one who gives Pashinyan strength.” It is about Anna Hakobyan, editor of Haykakan Zhamanak daily, Nikol Pashinyan’s wife. She was beside her husband almost all the days. And on April 22d, when Pashinyan was in custody, and the protesting citizens were left without a leader, Lena Nazaryan and Anna Hakobyan took over the hard work of organizing the protest.

Women’s initiatives were expressed during the movement as well as slogans against stereotypes that rejected the idea of women’s role and place.

In spite of the active participation and important role of women in these political processes, the society was unable to refrain from the manifestations of sexism, labeling, insult, or even swearing … The women were targeted on both sides of the barricades …

By the way, since the very beginning of the movement, the center has documented that many women today lead a double and even triple struggle to fight for the sake of a just and prosperous Armenia, social justice, the role of women in society and their role in the public domain, and finally women’s dignity in society for approval.

In recent days, YSU Center for Gender Studies and Leadership, again addressing many of the sexism, hate speech in social networks, has condemned such phenomena and made a call to stop them, noting that “everyone can disagree with the activities of any political or public figure, criticize them but not in such an unacceptable way.

Full text and Photos in Armenian