Young mothers face challenging choices

Journalist by profession and work experience Lusine’s third child has gone to a kindergarten and has just turned three years old a few months ago. The eldest daughter will go to the first grade this year. They have chosen a private school. Until 17: 00 the child will be taken care. Lusine thinks about working. The child’s care period has expired. The private school and helping grandmother does not save the situation.  She cannot decide what to do. She does not want to lose her job, she has to pay a nanny, and she must add some money to her salary so that she can pay for the private school, taxi, and nurse.

“I want to work. It does not matter how much  I think,  sort out, it does not work. There is no facility to help working mothers. Young mothers face serious dilemmas. In many cases, they have to make a choice between work or children. They mostly choose children. I do not lose hope for my return to work, I am still  figuring out options, “she told Womennet.am.

It’s no coincidence that over the years the highest unemployment rate has been among  women in Armenia. Most job seekers in the Employment Agency are women.

The number of job seekers in Armenia in 2017 amounted to 90.3 thousand people, of which 58.8 million are women. The agency had registered 75.5 thousand unemployed people, 49.9 thousand or 66.1% of them are women.

These numbers will not change for a long time as long as the state has not adopted a child-centered policy.

Full text in Armenian