The law “On the Fundamentals of Cultural Legislation” (2002) guarantees equal rights for everyone regardless of their nationality, race, sex, language, religion, beliefs, social origin, property, and another status, as is an inalienable right of every person to participation in the cultural life of the society and carrying out cultural activities in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. In addition, everyone has a right to creativity, both professionally and as an amateur, as well as everyone having a right to communicate cultural values, and to use any available state cultural resources in accordance with the legislation of RA.
Current priorities of the Government of the Republic of Armenia in the sphere of culture include ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men to freely participate in [cultural] life, to enjoy the benefits of their own creation, and to freely interact with cultural values. Some positive results have been recorded during the implementation of the law: introduction of gender expert examination of laws; secondary legal acts, policies and programmes in the culture sector concerning the participation of women; development of analytical tools for the purpose of establishing gender perspectives in the cultural policy; encouraging the positive coverage of gender issues in the print media and publishing and promoting the spread of ideas of equality between men and women; creation of educational and methodological complexes for teaching gender subjects in the form of textbooks and methodological manuals; inclusion of the gender component in the state policy in the culture sector; targeted support of social programmes dedicated to the issues of gender equality in the audiovisual sectors (cinema, theatre, advertising) within the framework of state order financing; – Introduction of gender knowledge in the training system of cultural workers.
However, there are still some important gaps, e.g. the absence of gender policy in the dissemination of financial resources and creation of new opportunities in the cultural field; the absence of gender equality component monitoring in the cultural sphere; strategic understanding of culture as national culture. Civil society organizations sustain (though chaotic, uneven, sometimes poorly organized) discourse on gender equality, the role, and importance of women’s engagement in the cultural field. The main points of the discourse are that women are not only quantitatively equal but are often decision-makers and culture is an innovative tool for the development of the creative potential of society, for the development of civil society.
It can be stated that although the spheres of education and culture are the most feminized in Armenia this does not lead to a more positive picture of gender equality, but quite the opposite. These are spheres where labour is low paid and requires a lot of effort in return. Workers in the field do not acquire either social or economic significant capital. Sometimes the feminization of industries leads to a devaluation of these industries themselves, which are perceived in society as “not a male occupation,” that is, not profitable enough and not serious enough. Though unequal remuneration based on gender is prohibited by the RA law “Providing equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men,” the recent research on the gender pay gap in Armenia made by UN Women[1] shows that the issue continues to be vital in the country and there is a 23% pay gap in all spheres and occupations in Armenia.[2]
A subject for misperceptions was the ratification process of the Istanbul Convention in Armenia. The process started in 2017, when the Government of Armenia approved the signing of the Convention on December 28 with the initiative of the Council of Europe. It caused a wave of public and far-right non-parliamentary political parties’ unrest, which stated that the eradication of prejudices, traditions, customs and all other phenomena based on the stereotypical division of men and women is a major threat to Armenian society and is destroying the national value system.[3]
One of the most important reflections on the Velvet Revolution of 2018 and the women’s role and importance within these events led to the Armenian exposition in the 2019 Viennese Biennale, where for the first time in the history of Armenian contemporary art, the country was represented by the predominantly feminist theme[4].
Despite the significant improvement in the legal field, the LGBT community in Armenia still faces legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, due in part to the lack of laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity and in part to prevailing negative attitudes about LGBT persons throughout society. Some NGOs and public initiatives in Armenia actively try to change the situation. Thus, Queering Yerevan Collective, a group of women artists, philosophers, translators, researchers and writers advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms in the Armenian cultural and art field or FemLibrary Center, a feminist initiative aimed at creating alternative art and international exchange of artists and queer activists from Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Greece, Germany, USA, France, etc, or 4PLUS, a women photographers’ organization may be mentioned as successful examples[5].
[1] Armenia Country Gender Equality brief, UN Women report, 2019
[2] Gender Analysis of the Cultural Field in Armenia prepared by CSN Lab – Sona Kalantaryan, Tigran Amiryan, 2021 // https://www.newdemocracyfund.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/GA_Armenia.pdf
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
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