Arpine Hovhannisyan: “Women’s participation in political processes is just numbers, they are not quotas …”

RA NA vice Speaker Arpine Hovhannisyan participated in the Second Eurasian Forum for Women in Global Security and Sustainable Development held in St. Petersburg September 19-21, where he delivered a speech.

In her speech, welcoming the participants of the forum and qualifying it as a platform for cooperation, exchange of experience and multilateral cooperation, she specifically said:

“I’ll be honest; I’ve been thinking for a long time what to talk about now. After some thought, I decided not to avoid  emotional talk because it is emotions, that though it is our  weakness but at the same time makes a weapon in a way of building  a more just, compassionate world.  Unfortunately, for a long time in our societies the well-known phrase that women are to look at and not to listen to, and all the societies have been guided by that logic. To all skeptics, I suggest looking at women in this hall. I’m convinced that everybody here has a huge role in politics and change of thinking in his country, no matter how that road is complicated, no matter how sometimes we face this road, sometimes we feel insurmountable, indifferent, and sometimes offensive.

During discussions, I always come to the idea of speaking about women’s involvement; we do not record the importance of women’s participation. What will ultimately change women’s participation in a number of social processes?

We – women love to talk about such spiritual values as kindness, compassion, harmony and ultimately peace throughout the world. There is a simple formula. Before speaking about these values, they should be ours; they will be transferred to our families, our societies, and then to larger platforms.

The initiator of the Forum for Women, for Global Security and Sustainable Development is Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Federation Council of RF, who invited the RA Prime Minister;s Lady Mrs. Anna Hakobyan and NA Vice President Arpine Hovhannisyan. About 2000 women from 120 countries around the world took part in the conference, including public figures, politicians, academics and representatives of the cultural sphere.

Full text in Armenian