Part 1
In Armenia, atop a hill overlooking the center of the capital Yerevan stands Mother Armenia. Defender of the Armenian nation, she straddles a broad sword in her hands, a shield at her feet. A relic of the bygone Soviet era, the 167-foot monument of copper and tuff (basalt) is the female personification of Armenia. In Armenian history the woman has been the safeguard of Armenian culture, language and the nation (Zazyan). But to a majority the Armenian woman is nothing beyond an idealized concept with no such regard paid to her as an individual. The achievements and fruitful history of Armenian women are all but non-existent in common Armenian history. The heroes gallery of Armenia’s gloried past is, like current Armenian society, dominated by men. The streets and civic centers of modern Armenia are populated with monuments to the male heroes, intellectuals and artists of history, those the government deemed deserving of adulation because of their contribution to Armenians. The concept of the Armenian mother may be sacred to Armenian society, but the woman as a person is relegated to the sidelines. In the 1850s, the journalist Stepan Voskan wrote, “The homeland is in the heart of women”. In reality, the homeland (as well as the Diaspora) is in the hands of the men. Armenian women must look to themselves for strength and collectively rise up to overcome their retarded stature in Armenian society...
During the Soviet era, the government created an environment where Armenian women were given equal and free access to education and employment without limitation. Apart from the political sphere, women were able to prevail in the spheres of education, public health and culture (Zazyan). The lack of female presence in the societal spheres of the modern Republic of Armenia shows no evidence of this previous Soviet advancement in establishing women as equals. Modern Armenian men and women alike are bombarded with image after image of women as sex objects and targets of sexual conquest. This is reaffirmed time and time again with media and advertising projected through television, internet and the billboards that populate the highways and social centers of the country. This objectification has an adverse effect on women’s self confidence and sense of place. It creates a false and misguided model of reflection for young women and stymies the progress towards equality as they are conditioned to expect nothing more from or for themselves. An increasingly skewed vision of women as objects of desire develops and the public, male and female alike, is ultimately conditioned to treat women accordingly. Women are also adversely conditioned into thinking along similar lines, discounting the ability and achievements possible by women, themselves and otherwise; in some cases to the point where women too become the aggressors in violence against women (as was the case with Zaruhi Petrosyan).
In November 2010, a young woman working with the Women’s Resource Center in Armenia had a sour encounter with a male taxi driver. It stands as evidence to the male public’s regard for the opposite sex. Women in Armenia are cautioned to not ride in the front seat of a taxi, especially not on their own. She was in a hurry and ignored caution:
Almost immediately the driver began to talk to me, asking me what my name was, where I was from, if my father lived in the area, if I had any brothers or sisters, and what my phone number was […] aside from a couple of head nods, I kept quiet. It wasn’t before long that the driver pulled out a piece of paper with his phone number on it and told me to call him, an offer in which I sternly declined. He then began to touch my thigh and then my face and neck. After assertively telling him “NO” and removing his hand from my body he instructed “not now, later.” Clearly it wasn’t enough that I said no, nor was it sufficient that I was assertive in my statement. I instructed him to stop the car and told him that I wanted to get out, a declaration in which he quite casually chose to ignore, and instead began to put his hands on me again. I can’t say I wasn’t scared, but I can say that I did not come off that way. After aggressively slamming on the dashboard, raising my voice, and pointing my finger in his face, he did stop the car. I quickly got out, and without paying.
No woman should feel afraid when they are alone in a cab with a man, or anywhere for that matter. It is not up to a man to dictate whether or not I should feel uncomfortable and certainly not acceptable for a man to put his hands on me without my consent. It is also not right for a woman to have to sit in the back of a cab to be safe from sexual or verbal harassment. A man should NOT feel entitled to do what he pleases with a woman under any circumstances, it is not his right. (Women’s Resource Center, “Taxi Harassment”)
Hers is not an isolated incident. It is such a common occurrence that in December 2010 a boutique taxi service was introduced to the streets of Armenia. Pink Taxi offers a no-smoking ride for women and couples, men are only allowed when riding with children. This is no solution. It is but a band aid placed on the overall struggle women face in Armenia.
Abuse and violence towards women is a common occurrence and the victims are expected to remain moonch (silent) on the matter. Women who admit to being victims of domestic violence often did so only in private. In 1998, a survey conducted among a hundred women found 80 admitting (in private) to being victims of domestic violence (Women’s Rights Center). However, after October 1, 2010, the majority could no longer remain silent and surveys would no longer suffice. On that day, twenty year old Zaruhi Petrosyan died at the hands of her husband and mother-in-law, a victim of domestic violence. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back; across the global Armenian nation there was a public outcry from women and men alike to stop the violence against women prevalent in Armenian society. Socially aware Armenians took to the streets to protest this violence, the silent killer of Armenian women, public awareness had increased on a global scale. The Armenians of the world made it known to the countless victims that it’s not okay to remain moonch, that it is okay to seek help and that there are individuals and organizations ready to do just that.
The Women’s Rights Center of Armenia makes available to the public a crisis center and a domestic violence hotline. Between 2009 and 2010, the calls to the hotline increased from 1010 to 1777. The calls specific to domestic violence increased from 435 to 701. Only 71 women visited their crisis center. Of the visits 42 related to domestic violence, 26 were for psychological abuse, 13 came in for physical abuse and only 3 for sexual abuse. Ultimately, the figures relating to the call center and especially the crisis center are miniscule in comparison to the reality of the large number of victims. Though as women in Armenia become more aware of their rights, they can make increasing use of the resources made available to them.
Through raising awareness Armenians can combat the victimization of women. Through awareness, current and future generations of men and women can move beyond the abject nature of the current gender roles in Armenian society. Let the saying “A woman is like wool, the more you beat her, the softer she will be” and its ilk be lost in the annals of time. Let the Armenian woman be like the statue of Mother Armenia; Protector of the Armenian language, culture and nation, its children and its future. Armenian women can turn to role models, examples of achievement and progression both in the home and the public and set out on a journey of advancement for not only themselves but for Armenians as a whole.
There is no perfect or ideal model of an Armenian woman. Even still, in the collective Armenian past and present there exists a plethora of women who serve as examples and role models, necessary in the journey to establishing women as rightful true equals in Armenian society. There’s an old adage, “You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” How can Armenian women as a majority hope to elevate their status in society if they are not reminded of the heights and enlightenment reached by the women before them?…
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Part 2
Constantinople at the turn of the 20th Century was home to several women writers who, out of the oppressed Armenian life of the Ottoman Empire, came to believe that the “apparent freedom of women in Western societies […] was one of the causes of Western advancement” (Rowe). Though never seeing fruition as a result of the Genocide of 1915, the Armenian women writers of Constantinople were taking the first steps and putting into motion what could have been a truly great Zartonk (awakening) specific to and necessary for the advancement of Armenian women. Not unlike the feminist movements of the West.
The first of such writers was Serpouhi Dussap. Born in 1841, her upbringing in a wealthy family afforded her an education few women of the time were privy to. Dussap also benefited from the presence of a strong female role model in her home, her mother Nazli Vahan. Vahan founded the St. Hripsimiants girls’ school in 1859 and was a staunch supporter of female education. Dussap’s mother also ran a salon that allowed her exposure to the social issues of the time which influenced her future writing and eventual running of her own cultural salon. Dussap’s literary career saw the publication of several novels tackling such issues as women’s expected subordination to men, lack of access to employment & education for women and forced marriage; issues that are to a degree prevalent in modern Armenia. Serpouhi Dussap “challenged the socially dominant concept of male superiority, arguing that women needed to” rise up and force “society’s recognition of women’s intellectual capacity” (Rowe).
Zabel Yesayian, another writer of the time, is the most highly regarded woman writer in early twentieth century literature. It was Yesayian’s father who, even with limited wealth, ensured she would receive a high education. But even her father’s passion for his daughter’s knowledge could not find an institution through which she could continue her post-primary school education, so Yesayian turned to salons. Similar to Serpouhi Dussap, in the salons Yesayian would meet well-known Armenian intellectuals and be participatory to discussions of social and national issues. She would later go to Paris, the first Armenian woman to do so, to continue her education at the renowned Sorbonne. In that same year she would embark on a prolific literary career. She wrote of social issues, female subjectivity, and gender oppression. Yesayian was the only woman on the list of Armenian intellectuals that were rounded up on April 24, 1915. She was lucky and escaped to live a life in exile until, at the invitation of the Soviet government, settling in Yerevan, where she would become an instructor at Yerevan State University. Tragically, during the Stalinist purges in 1937, Yesayian was arrested and in 1942 would die in prison. Zabel Yesayian lived a life of struggle but one that saw the “creation of strong female characters who develop a sense of self, despite social conditions that hinder personal development. [Her] characters exist and struggle against the backdrop of Armenian history whether it is […] the lonely world of exile, or the struggle for survival” (Rowe).
Beyond literature there are other figures from the past women can turn to for a role model. Women such as Karen Jeppe who, not being of Armenian origin, dedicated her life to the protection and education of Armenian women. In the history of Armenia’s armed struggle for independence there have been many women, like Soseh Mayrig (Mother) who fought alongside the male fedayees in such battles as the 1894 resistance against Ottoman forces in Sassoun.
It should be noted, as evidenced above, the further removal of oneself from the margins of society is not the responsibility of the individual alone. Armenian history is not bound to the individual, it is a collective past; the progression of Armenian society in the realm of gender equality should also be of a collective nature. Assistance from others is imperative in establishing a foundation from which to overcome the societal constructs limiting the role of the Armenian female. Zabel Yesayian benefited from her father’s urging to receive a well rounded education. A young Serpouhi Dussap was exposed to the framework for her advocacy of the non-marginalization of women through the work done on the part of and salon run by her mother Nazli Vahan. Armenians of both genders must make a united push to reach the much delayed positioning of women as equal leaders of Armenian society.
It is not only the past that women should turn to for guidance in the battle for equality. Across the global Armenian nation are women who can serve as guiding lights. In the realm of politics; In 2008, Hranush Hakobyan was appointed Minister of the Republic of Armenia’s Ministry of the Diaspora. She is a graduate of Yerevan State University’s Faculties of Law and Applied Mathematics, as well as graduate of the Academy of Social Sciences of Moscow. Hakobyan with a strong educational background is in a key position in the Armenian government, tasked with strengthening the ties between the Republic and the Diaspora. Considering the size and scope of the Armenian Diaspora, the job is not for the weak-willed. In the realm of Sports; A young 23 year old Armenian woman from Germany is an example of the strength women can and do possess. Susianna Kentikian is the current World Boxing Association, World Boxing Organization and Women’s International Boxing Federation’s world flyweight champion. In the arts; Several female musical acts such as Zulal, Nune Yesayan and Deti Picasso form new avenues of access to the rich tapestry of Armenia’s musical past. The actress Arsinee Khanjian, through the films of her husband, Atom Egoyan, has created an image of a strong, independent and self confident woman. No more should Armenian women feel as if their place is on the sidelines of the male dominated society. The aforementioned women are but a sliver of the viable Armenian female role models that exist today.
Presently, the advancement of Armenian women in modern society is retarded by the lack of popularized female role models. Without an example and set precedent to aspire to, any progress will find itself stymied. Women of note are ever present in the Armenian present and past, though buried under layers of male-centric history. As evident in the women writers of Constantinople, salons created an environment beneficial to women’s advancement. Salons could exist as a commonplace occurrence in modern society where public discourse and discussion of pertinent issues can further the status and position of women. Let the norm of the Armenian woman be akin to Mother Armenia, strong and vigilant. Armenian women must look to themselves for strength and collectively rise up to overcome their retarded stature in Armenian society, though it is not their responsibility alone. The advancement of Armenian women must be a united effort. Women and men must work together to transcend the detrimental gender and societal roles that have been accepted as the norm of Armenian society.
Manoogian, Margaret, Alexis Walker, and Leslie Richards. “Gender, Genocide, and Ethnicity.” Journal of Family Issues, 28.4 (2007): 567-589.
Rowe, Victoria. “Armenian Writers and Women’s-Rights Discourse in Turn-of-the-Twentieth- Century Constantinople.” Aspasia, 2.1 (2008): 44-69.
Women’s Resource Center. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. <http://www.womenofarmenia.org/index.php>.
Women’s Rights Center. Web. 05 Apr. 2011. <http://www.wrcorg.am/en/home.htm>.
Zazyan, Mary. “Armenian Woman in Physics.” AIP Conference Proceedings, 1119.1 (2009): 77- 78.
This was such a great read for me. Thanks for writing!