Katherine Leach “For me the most important is that people have choice.”

Our guest is  the United Kingdom’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia Katherine Leach,

who is completing her diplomatic mission in our country.

-Your Excellency, since 2012 your mission in Armenia has been unique for you have been working together with your husband Mr. Jonathan Aves. What are the advantages and challenges of this kind of shared job?

–         Actually, this shared job was a first-time experience for us and was a very helpful one.  We worked on the basis of rotation: replacing each other every four months.

One of the most important advantages of the shared job is the difference in approaches. Overall, the experience shows that diversity, mixed groups and teams, which are composed of people with different potential and approaches, including of representatives of different gender, produce better results.

In this period, each of us brought our experiences, different strengths and approaches to the job and thus added different energy dimensions to the embassy work. I think sometimes it was very confusing since we do have different styles and approaches, but again overall I think that the important thing is the enthusiasm and the new energy that you bring to the job changing ever four months.

The main challenge is making sure that you are sharing enough information on what comes up every four months, are familiar with all issues and are not starting from scratch.  And then making sure that we have discussed the big issues together, that we are happy with the big decisions that we are taking.  At the same time, it was important that we let each other have a free handle making decisions day to day and that we back each other up and not reverse each other’s decisions.  Those were the main challenges.

We were both a bit nervous about how our partners and stakeholders would find it, but actually I have to say that our cooperation with all, including the Government and Foreign Affairs and Defense Ministries, worked out well. And I am very grateful to the people whom I worked with and who helped us to make it work.

-During your work in Armenia you paid much attention to the issue of women’s participation in politics. How will you assess the situation in this respect in Armenia and Great Britain?

–         The election quota mechanism fixed in Armenia’s Electoral Code when every fifth candidate in electoral lists of the parties participating in elections to Parliament is to be a woman is a good rule.  In Great Britain, the big breakthrough for us was in 1997 when the Labor party introduced women in the short list for safe seat.  That dramatically increased the proportion of women in Parliament.

Although there is a constant debate about should we have rules about quota or should we take other steps to encourage women to take part in politics, I think different tools are appropriate for different times. It is true that often, as a woman, I think why to use quota, as I like the idea of women being elected on their merits, because they are the best candidates. But, sometimes, just to break the stereotypes in society and to make a change, quotas are helpful and necessary.

I would like to see in Armenia more women in Parliament, especially in the next parliamentary election. But Britain has a lot of work to do too, when you compare us with some other European countries. Many people say that our parliament is not friendly for working mothers, for example, evening sessions in Parliament are frequent. I think every parliament should have appropriate guideline rules and also working culture and practices to create precedents for support of women.  Armenia too has examples when women successfully combine a ministerial position or active political engagement with maternity.  All countries have such great examples. They are just not enough.  

-I believe it was not by chance that this year in April Ambassador Mariette Shurman, the NATO General Secretary’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security, visited Armenia through the British Embassy. During one of your interviews you mentioned women’s engagement in the field of security should be encouraged. What changes can women bring to this field and how we can encourage them?

-Over the past 30 years our armed forces have increasingly opened the doors to women in different areas. In reality, it is a gradual, step by step process, but the results you get are universal to all.  Women’s involvement in the armed forces has a positive effect, helps improve the situation in the system and resolution of certain problems and issues.

So, I think that steps towards increase of women’s role in the armed forces should be continued.  Last year Armenia’s Defense Ministry started recruiting women in military academies for the first time, and I think that we need now more publicity about these examples. It should be shown how and why these young women have made their choices.  There are also many women with police forces in the street. I think that these examples should also be publicized.

–Exactly 15 years ago, in 2000, Resolution # 1325 of the UN Security Council was adopted which was the first resolution highlighting the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution. Does it work globally and particularly in Armenia and what should be done to make women’s voices heard to put an end to wars and conflicts?

-Indeed, this resolution adopted in 2000 brought together a number of important issues related to women in one document. It highlighted the importance of women’s role to stay in stable peace, as well as their involvement in the security sector. I think it has been very effective since it is talking not only about women’s participation in the armed forces and decision making, but also about their engagement in peace building and prevention of violence against women during conflicts.

This is an important step since it envisions certain commitments on the part of governments in this direction. I think where we do not see enough progress is the women’s involvement in peace processes.  Particularly in areas like Armenia, where we have an ongoing conflict, it is very important that women’s voices be heard and more of them take part in the negotiation processes. I would like to celebrate more positive successes.

-How do you think peace can be established in the region and what would be the role of women in this respect?

–         When we talk about a conflict resolution, we should understand that it is a multi-layered process. There is not only this level of political agreement between elites, but also the need to bring civil societies of the two sides together. Over the recent years such steps have been taken: students, journalists, NGO representatives have been trying to establish contacts, and here, the voices of women and women’s organizations can be especially heard.

Another important issue for peace is to understand that both sides should make compromise.  And to compromise is very painful: you cannot make peace if one side feels it lost everything and the other side won everything. You should find a peace that will work for both sides and if both sides negotiate this way, I think peace will be established.

–What is your advice to the women who think that family and career are incompatible?

–         I think every woman has to find her own unique solution because everybody has different needs and feels differently about, for example, how much time they should spend with their children. Today everything is changing, services are changing, and employers are changing.  Over the past 15 years much has changed in the Foreign Office and that is what helped me to stay in work as a working mother and to take the advantage of flexible options. It is very important to develop flexible work practices to assist working mothers.

Of course, there are no easy solutions, but my message to women is that if you want to have family and career, do everything that makes it work.

–Do you advise your daughters on this issue?

–I have two daughters and one son. I think the role model is very important. My children have seen me as a working mother example and I think that the idea that you combine the motherhood with career will be absolutely normal for them. The young are very ambitious today, they want to make a career, but if they make a decision to stay home, that too is wonderful. For me the most important is that people have choice…

-What is the brightest memory that you are taking from Armenia? And do you already know what the next country is where you are going to continue your diplomatic work?

–The most memorable undertaking for me was when the Gyumri school after Lord Byron was provided with a heating system through the joint efforts of the Government and the Embassy. The school was established in 1990 through the support of Great Britain and for me it is a British structure in Armenia and I wanted to assist them very much.

I find this place and people very warm, in a few days after coming to Armenia I felt totally at home. I think I will miss the people most of all, then Yerevan and also the mountains: Ararat and Aragats.

I am going back to London. It is a good time to spend some time with my family, my kids. And also to understand what it means to be British in Britain, and not only British abroad. It will be good to have an opportunity to be close to family, friends, and relatives…

Interviewed by Lilit Kochinyan