Araksya Stepanyan. “When you are ready to invest all your potential for the benefit of your birthplace”

Among the seven female candidates running for the September 29^th local government elections in Artashat is Araksya Stepanyan, who is running for the first time, and this is the second run-off for the Social Justice Party created in 2016.

Araksya Stepanyan is a lawyer by profession, before joining the party she worked in various NGOs. She says the idea of getting into politics was formed during that time.

-How did you decide to become a party member?

– We have been engaged in public activism with the party’s founding president for many years, and then, when the political force formed in 2016, for the sake of social excellence, I joined it from the beginning, I can say it was at the very beginning of the party.

– Have you participated in the elections before?

– I have always been interested in politics and have been an independent observer in various elections, but I have never been a candidate. This is my first experience.

– How did you make the decision to participate in the election process, was your family not against it?

“During my public life in my hometown, I witnessed many problems and eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to be involved in political life in order to have a systematic solution to existing problems. And my family members were not against my decision, on the contrary, I have their great support.

– How would you rate women’s participation in political processes?

“In our country, women’s activism has always been noticeable in different areas. Including political. There is an age when you realize that you are ready to invest all your potential for the benefit of your birthplace.

– Are the stereotypes that politics is not a woman’s place disappeared or do we still have something to do?

– In my opinion, these stereotypes are no longer relevant.