Mariam Tsatryan: “I do not want to see women only in front of the gas stove”

“My 84-year-old grandmother is the only one who does not agree with my political activity”. Her grandmother was worried that her granddaughter had decided to enter the big politics and nominate as an MP candidate for the snap elections. Though her grandmother was against, Mariam received 4455 votes in the constituency of Syunik and Vayots Dzor through a rating system.

Mariam began to be interested in politics when she was 19, and for her relatives her political activity was alien, sometimes they were against her participation in protests. “They were very worried when I participated in civic events, often coming back home wet, cold and tired, saying that nothing would change, I should save myself and find another interest.

“In the Meghri municipality, I was working in the system of information and public relations. Political broad-mindedness was shown towards me. Again, I continued to live the same civilian life, change something in the community life and often hit the thick walls with open fronts.”

While living and working in the region, Mariam knows without statistics, that Syunik region has never had female governor, mayor, and women’s involvement in the council is still low.

We also talked about women’s involvement in civil and political life with gender expert Lilit Zakaryan. According to her, the factor of family support plays a crucial role for women’s progress. The expert observes that it is easier for a woman to enter politics when one of her family members has been in office or politically active, and maybe the opposite is politically not active, but the family believes that the woman can achieve heights. Lilit Zakaryan noted that after a “velvet revolution” in our country, there is a positive trend. After these events, a large number of people, especially women, entered the political field, and thanks to the media, people saw that politics was also women’s field.

Mariam Tsatryan is convinced that the velvety spring this year has made changes to the issue, but legal adjustments are needed to make women more active in public and political spheres.

Full text in Armenian