“In my mother-in-law’s opinion, a woman should only have children and deal with family affairs”… 

Men and other family members can prevent women from working, according to the 2022 “Baseline Study of Stereotypes in the Eastern Partnership Countries”, published jointly by UN Women and UNFPA .  According to the survey, 23% of men surveyed in Armenia, or almost one in five men, did not allow a woman in their family to work outside the home.

According to the “Survey of domestic violence against women, 2021.”  rural women are more often subjected to violence. We are talking not only about physical and sexual violence, but also psychological and economic.

In contrast to sexual (6.6%) and physical violence (14.8%), 31.8% of women in Armenia were subjected to psychological violence. Moreover, the higher the educational level of a person, the higher the rate of exposure to psychological violence. In contrast to physical and sexual violence, women with higher/post-graduate education are more likely to be subjected to psychological violence.

50% of women participating in the study have no income, therefore lack financial independence and are dependent on a partner or household member/s, which in turn increases the likelihood of being subjected to violence.

What to do if you find yourself in such a situation?

Alvard Karapetyan, a social worker of the “Women’s Support Center” NGO, says that during her 10 years of working at the center, she has worked with hundreds of women who have been subjected to violence in the family, who for one reason or another have tolerated the violence for years.

“Some tolerate violence for the sake of children, family survival. A society is healthy if the family is healthy, but if there is no love and unity there cannot be a healthy atmosphere.

According to her, some women do not consider light cases of violence (slap, tug, etc.) as violence, continue to reconcile with the situation, but when they are of a continuous nature, the bravest consider divorce as a possible solution.

The social worker explains that restricting a woman’s right to work, confiscating her salary, restricting her participation in family shopping, depriving her of the opportunity for education, etc., are also manifestations of violence.

Full text in Armenian