“Economic empowerment of women in Armenia: Opportunities and Constraints” Brief info on available research and data

1. “Economic empowerment of women in Armenia: Opportunities and Constraints”Brief info on available research and data prepared by JinaSargizova under the CONTRACT N 08/2, OXFAM Yerevan 2011

2. Republic of Armenia

4. International docs signed and ratified • CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979. It entered into force on 3rd September 1981. Armenia is included in the list of CEDAW accession countries since September 1993. • CEDAW Optional Protocol was ratified in 2006 • Beijing Platform of Action (1995) • Millennium Development Goals • UN SC Resolution 1325 (2000) Since 1992 RA ratified 29 ILO conventions among them: • Equal Remunerations Convention (C100) • Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention (C111).

5. National Documents • 2004-2010 Republic of Armenia National Action Plan on Improving the Status of Women and Enhancing Their Role in Society. • RA National Concept Paper On Gender Equality (Feb 2010) • 2011-2015 Strategy and Action Plan on Gender Equality (May 2011) • Draft law on state guaranties of equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women in the Republic of Armenia

6. Situational Analysis Documents reviewed are: Armenia Gender Profile – IFAD Armenia Economy - IFC World Bank Gender Situation - FAO “Work and Family” - ILO RA State Gender Concept Paper Gender Equality in Armenia – WIKI Gender Legislation Analysis - UNFPA Armenia MDG Report CEDAW State and Alternative Reports

7. Priority Issues in the Socio-Economic Area High Level Of Unemployment, “Feminization” Of Unemployment Gender structure of the unemployed demonstrates a disproportionate distribution of unemployment among women and men. The decline of women economic activism as well as the “feminization” of unemployment continue. Women constitute 70% of the officially registered unemployed. Officially, the rate of unemployment among the age group of employable women (30-39 years old) is 60.1%. Women of the ages 50-54 are especially vulnerable to the risk of unemployment and poverty.

8. Gender Discrimination (Segregation) In The Labour Market And Employment Sector • Women experience difficulties in job seeking more than men; whereas job placement opportunities for young women, women entering the labour market for the first time, single mothers and women of pre-retirement age are minimal. • According to the official statistics, over one-third of households in Armenia are headed by women, which is a new phenomenon for the Armenian society. However, this high proportion is not a result of women’s emancipation or greater activism or of the expansion of their career opportunities. Furthermore, in 2009, the average monthly wage size per capita by sex of household head was 22,613.9 AMD for men and 9,211.1 for women (i.e. 40.7%). Consequently, the said high proportion is more precisely a result of destitution and men’s migration from the country. • The risk of members of households headed by women finding themselves in extreme poverty is one-third times higher than that of other households.

9. Large Share Of Women In The Informal Sector And Increased Discriminatory Treatment • The level of legal and social protection for women and men in the private sector is low, where they encounter such problems as the absence of employment contracts, a low level of social security and inadequate working conditions. There is a higher risk of discriminatory treatment in the informal sector of the economy.

10. Outflow of women from highly paid sectors • Despite the government effort to increase the salary in sectors with a dominating women presence, such as education, health, culture and social security, women as a social group are paid less in the listed sectors because as a rule they are involved in lesser paid sectors. Gender-related disproportion of wages and incomes • The average salary of women constitutes 60% of men's salary. Women constitute the majority in the lower paid sectors of the economy. The average monthly salary of women in the management sphere makes up 60.4% that of men, in cultural and art spheres - 65%, in health and physical culture and social security - 63% and in trade and catering - 68.2%. The average income of women remains lower than that of men.

11. According to the Gender Dimension of Civic and Political Participation in Armenia sociological study, conducted by Caucasus NGO (2011):

12. Low representation of women in the business ownership sector and in leadership of organizations Inadequate access to finance, credit/loans, real estate, property ownership and land use complicates the integration of women into new economic relations, limiting women's professional growth and their promotion in business. Women constitute 20-25% of business owners, 36.2% of the self-employed and only 10.3% of employers.

13. To what extent is public opinion in Armenia positive about women pursuing careers in various fields (where “1” stands for “unequivocally negative” and “5” stands for “unequivocally positive”)

14. Gender imbalanced representation at higher levels of economy management The unequal position of women and men in the economic sphere increases the risk of discrimination with regard to the enjoyment of rights and opportunities, and the traditional division of gender roles becomes a strong factor for gender inequality. Women spend five times as much time performing unpaid house work than men, as a result of which women have 1 hour 40 minutes less free time than men. A total of paid and unpaid work for men is 6.5 hours, and for women 7 hours 51 minutes, whereas profitable work - 1.44 hours and 5.18 hours, respectively. Economic dominance between women and men is not distributed evenly; the availability of economic and social resources to both sexes is also different. Representation of women and men in managerial positions of the economic management sphere is imbalanced both at high government and community levels. Women are represented only in the lower grades of the economic grading system and are practically deprived of participation in the decision making process concerning major economic issues, and, consequently, from the opportunity of voicing their interests.

15. According to the Gender Dimension of Civic and Political Participation in Armenia sociological study, conducted by Caucasus NGO (2011): 60.9% of the respondents pointed out that men have better career advancement opportunities. According to the “Study on causes of women’s underrepresentation in decision-making” conducted by the RoA National Institute of Labor & Social Research(2008) 68% of the respondents mentioned that men have better career advancement opportunities. 27% of the respondents believed that women and men have equal opportunities in that area.

16. Ownership Rights • Armenian law supports the principle of financial independence for women. Under the law, women and men have the same access to land. In practice, the percentage of female property owners is low because women who work tend to earn much less than men, and many women are not employed at all. • The Government of Armenia privatised land in 1991/92 by splitting it amongst households. Land ownership was awarded to the head of the family, regardless of gender. This means that, in reality, women can access land only in the absence of a male head of the family. Women play an important role in agriculture, and often have to manage their farms alone due to a high level of male emigration. • Access to bank loans is regulated by the banking laws, which provide women the same rights as men.

17. Professional Development • The system of human resource training and professional development operates without a precise policy on human resource/staff training, which impedes the accomplishment of gender balance in the area of management, as well as at the level of political decision making. • In the staff training process, 61% of women were trained for junior positions,82% for leading positions, only 32% for chief positions and 22% for the highest positions. • The preparation of highly qualified cadres is conducted with no consideration for the gender factor, and does not comply with the urgent demand for the further democratization of the management area.

18. Rural Women • There are no laws and virtually no comprehensive policies aiming to integrate rural women in development initiatives and undertakings. • Even the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Agriculture Development for the period up to 2015 (approved in 2004) and the • Strategy for Sustainable Development of Mountainous and Highland Regions of the Republic of Armenia (formulated in 2005) deal only tangentially with rural women. • The same is for Economic Development of Rural Areas, Land Reclamation and Funding Agricultural Activities Programs implemented with funding received from through credits from international financial institutions.

19. Rural women are not a part of planning or policymaking on development. Rural women are routinely perceived as and cast into the role of passive recipients of whatever assistance or support may be delivered to them. • Women are not given an easier access to agricultural and business credits and loans, even though not infrequently they are in much need, especially in case of women-headed households. • Women usually benefit from micro-credit or loan programs only when money comes from donor organizations, which make those funds available on a condition of a certain level of women’s involvement.

20. There is no Government policy in place to promote rural women’s entrepreneurship. • No efforts have been made to offer training, retraining or vocational education to rural women to equip them with adequate skills and competence and to match those with the existing challenges and opportunities. • Tax policies do not contain breaks for rural women that start small agricultural production or other small businesses. No expert consultancy and legal support are provided to such women. • The Government policies to promote small and medium businesses have yet to become gender-sensitive

21. While education laws do not make any distinction on the basis of sex or rural or urban area of residence, there clearly is unequal access to educational institutions and unequal educational opportunities. • The situation was further aggravated by the school optimization program, which entailed a dramatic reduction in the number of schools and teachers and which affected rural women and girls disproportionately. • One of the reasons why that is so is that most teachers are women and they are the first to lose jobs that are scarce in rural areas. • And another reason is that girls are less likely to travel to neighboring villages or towns to get education beyond what can be offered locally

22. Conclusions The major challenge of the country in this field is that having legally guaranteed equal basic rights and high levels of competence, women cannot fully utilize them. Women’s equal access to opportunities and participation in socio-economic and political life as well as decision making are, in practice, not ensured. Economic dominance and availability of economic and social resources between women and men is not even. Representation of women and men in managerial positions of the economic management sphere is imbalanced both at high government and community levels. The root causes of this situation are related to the lack of political will and the enabling environment, as well as to the non-formal institutions and traditions related to the roles of women and men in family and society.