“Gender equality” in Armenia is one of the taboo topics that we don’t discuss that much. Of course there are young people and organizations that are really involved in this topic and want to talk out loud about it, however for most of the people this is very personal and they prefer not to talk about it.
Please note that whatever you read in this article is just my personal opinion and doesn’t refer to everyone.
The idea of “gender equality” is kind of different for us. When we talk about it we mostly mean equality of work positions that you can have as a women or men but of course in general it’s more than only finding job in certain position. In this article I would like to separate into two main groups: gender equality inside family relationships and out of it.
Is there “gender equality” inside Armenian families? – Definitely no!
From the beginning of your conscious life you are gone feel the inequality between men and women. Men are always dominant in our families and it refers almost all aspects. I can bring some examples to make it clearer. In standard Armenian family women is responsible for cleaning, cooking, taking care about children, organizing all household things etc. and if you can manage with all these responsibilities also work somewhere it means you are very lucky. Men are mostly responsible for financial part, for them the most important thing is to have a normal work and provide money for their family. I have to say that most of the cases women feel happy for these and they accept their role as it is and if you find families where women earn more money than men most probably there are conflicts inside these families, because men can’t accept this and they feel less powerful if their wives financially are more stable than they.
These “inequalities” we can see also in other aspects of our lives. The most important decisions in families usually make husband. It is very common to ask permission from your husband or father before doing anything important, even if you are adult. There are more “not written rules” that for us look normal but for others it can be expression of inequality, for instance, during dinners men sit around table first and women serve the food and usually the best piece is for the eldest man of family. Also there are some topics that men like to discuss and even if women have other opinion it’s better to not interrupt them or express your disagreement in front of others. Another fact about “gender equalities” in Armenian families is that girls usually don’t have their independent lives. If you are not marries doesn’t matter you are 14 or 40 you feel like a child at home and you have to inform and ask your family about all your steps that you plan to take.
As you can see it’s hard to talk about “equality” in families but instead of complaining about it we accept it as a part of our culture.
Let’s see if there is “gender equality” out of families. In my opinion during last 10-15 years women in Armenia changed a lot and they do everything to become successful also in their career. However there is still stereotype that women can’t have good career and family at the same time, this stereotype itself shows that it is not easy for females to grow their career but I’m proud that they start to walk against this rules and proved that it is not only possible to have both but also necessary because women who stays at home all the time can become boring and less attractive but when they have their own things going on usually they spend more quality time with families.
So this is my short opinion-article about basic “gender equality” expression in typical Armenian culture. Of course as I mentioned this doesn’t refer to everyone but if you just decide randomly visit 5 families, I’m sure 4 of them gone have these features.