“Our society is like a family, where the mother is missing …”

 Episodes parliamentary hearings

“ I compare the situation in our society to a family in which the mother is absent. As a result, we have a large residence which is dirty and washed once a month at best, the older and more crafty children in the family have stolen bread from the younger ones and, as they say, are fat and happy while the others who are weaker have become itinerants, roaming the world. This raises the question of how to return the mother to the family” This is the question that Jasmena Ghevondyan, chairman of the “Neruj” NGO  raised at the National Assembly parliamentary hearings on the draft of the new electoral code on March 22, suggesting the allocation of 50/50 proportion of women and men on the electoral lists of political parties because, according to the RA constitution, women and men are equal in rights.

Let us mention that this was not the only speech that relates to increasing women’s participation in the electoral process, during the hearings…

“The issue of increasing women’s participation in decision-making is the focus of our attention. We are working towards that aim.”

The mutual concern of the participants who spoke about this issue was that no plans for an increase in women’s participation are provided for in the draft electoral code, while the introduction of open and closed proportionate lists could result in a sharp decrease in the number of women in the NA. In response, Minister – Chief of RA Government Staff, Davit Harutyunyan, noted that this issue had already caught their attention because they had also received similar comments from other organisations and they are currently working on them. “We do not as yet have ready solutions but I assure you we are focusing our attention on the issue: we are working. Let us see what final solution we come to because there is also a debate going on in our working group. But I assure you that we will find solutions”, he said. Davit Harutyunyan mentioned Armenia’s international commitments, in particular the 50/50 by 2030 resolution proposed by the UN. He noted that he cannot see any possibility for placing such demands at this time and it is important that the demand should not come artificially but should arise naturally and today it is realistic to move forward step by step and talk about setting the minimum limit. “Here, the issue is, not using women’s resources and potential, which in my opinion is, at the very least,  not good sense.  I repeat, we must set a minimum demand. But the aim is not some limit or other, but ensuring women’s participation in politics,” said the minister.

Does the fact that of 866 village communities only 18 have women leaders bring us any honour?

Referring to the issue of the proportion of women to men in political party lists, Jemma Hasratyan, the president of the Armenian Association of women with university education, mentioned that in many countries, the density of women and men in the country is used as a basis for presenting  women and men proportionally in the lists. Apart from that, the intellectual resources of the candidates are taken into account.

“Today, in Armenia, women comprise 60% of individuals with higher education and not to utilise that resource is, to put it mildly, wrong. I am convinced it is necessary to consider this seriously and to initiate  appropriate steps”, she announced and added that the Armenian Association of women with university education, with its almost thirty branches in all regions, together with more than ten other NGOs have presented proposals for raising women’s participation in the legislature and local self-government system.

The speaker also reminded those present that in his address of March 8 the RA president, Serj Sargsyan, said, ”Nowadays women in our country have a much greater role that they have ever had and the process of constitutional reforms will intensify this trend.”

“If you agree with our president, then let’s see how we can achieve that goal in the legislative field. Does the fact that, of 866 village communities only 18 have women leaders bring us honour? Is it proper that we only have 32 female council members in our 48 urban communities, and we are talking about such large towns such as Abovyan, Vagharshapat, Armavir, and Hrazdan which has a population of over 40 thousand yet we do not have even one female council member there. I don’t understand, how can those council members gather and discuss social, educational and other issues about which women may be a little more aware, and suggest the right solutions?” said J. Hasratyan, expressing the hope that men will be well-disposed to the increase of women’s participation in politics.

“The danger of a decrease in the number of women in the NA can be detected”

Tamara Hovnatanyan (president of ProMedia-Gender ngo) stated the Gender issues thematic group’s  proposals concerning the expansion of women’s political participation. She pointed out that the group, having discussed the draft electoral code, noticed a real danger in terms of a decrease of women in the National Assembly. In the opinion of the group, that may result in the implementation of the national and regional political parties’ lists model, as proposed in the draft. With the intention of preventing this trend, the group has come forward with proposals which are aimed at increasing women’s representation. In particular, a change is proposed to the clause in the third point of Article 84 concerning political party national and regional electoral lists, setting down that the first two on the list should be allocated to representatives of different genders and then, from number 3 onward, the number of representatives of each gender should not exceed 70 percent. In point 9 of the same Article, it is proposed that the number of representatives of each gender on the regional electoral lists should not exceed 70%. As the speaker clarified, the sequence proposed for the national list will allow there to be at least 2 women in the first five elected, thereby avoiding the situation that was created during the previous elections due to the formula set by the code; that is, that women must be included beginning from number 2 in any complete set of five (2-6, 2-11 and so on.)

T.Hovnatanyan noted, “Experience has shown that the clause including women in the  2-6 positions was the basis for discrimination and in effect deprived the women of being included in the first five. The majority of parties included women beginning from the 6^th position and in 2012 the number of them falling within the elected groups of five was four times less than that in 2007 when such norm were absent. As a result we have a party which entered the NA without a single woman in its ranks, although they had included over 25% women in their electoral lists”. She added that the proposal given for the NA elections also covers the regional elections based on proportional representation taking place for the local self-government bodies in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor.

It was also mentioned that the group proposes to enlarge the list, to also use the proportional representation system for elections in other cities and large communities. The Gender issues thematic group proposes to also apply mechanisms which will guarantee the said proportion of genders in party lists in all phases of the election process and in the elected body. “We are speaking about withdrawals, as a result of which a lot of a lot of women elected in 2012 did not enter the NA for reasons unknown to the public. The use of the following clause is proposed “In case of handing in of their mandate by a candidate less represented in the party lists through withdrawal, their place must be filled by the next candidate of the gender less represented in the lists”, concluded the speaker.

Full text in Armenian