Women in Armenia have had equal rights, including the right to vote, since the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia. On June 21 and 23, 1919, the first direct parliamentary elections were held in Armenia under universal suffrage - every person over the age of 20 had the right to vote regardless of gender, ethnicity or religious beliefs. The 80-seat legislature, charged with setting the foundation for an Armenian state, contained three women deputies: Katarine Zalyan-Manukyan, Perchuhi Partizpanyan-Barseghyan and Varvara Sahakyan.
The constitution of the current Republic of Armenia was adopted in 1991 and officially guarantees gender equality. This has enabled women to actively participate in all spheres of Armenian life. Armenian women have attained prominence in entertainment, politics and other fields.
Work and business
According to the 2018 Grant Thornton International business survey, the proportion of senior roles held by women in Armenia went slightly up from 31% to 32%. However no improvement was recorded among the surveyed Armenian businesses in diversity in management positions: 17% having no women in senior roles (10% in 2017)".
Based on 2021 data provided by Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, among countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Armenia’s performance on women’s financial inclusion in business has been at 40.9%, compared to the minimum score in the region assigned to Azerbaijan (27.7%) and the maximum score in Estonia (98.4%).
Based on a report by the United Nations, there were 24 female mayors and community leaders in Armenia in 2011; a further 50 women held lower-level administrative positions.
Traditional status
Some Armenian intellectuals, like Sibil, viewed ancient Armenian society and laws as woman-centric in line with the common trend of 19th century reformers who saw women as guardians of ancient, national culture, "many reformers idealised the civilization of a distant past, speaking of the need to regain the lost freedom that women were once said to have possessed in their societies”. The law code of Mkhitar Gosh, dating to the 12th century, sought to raise women's status from its former level, however the code explicitly enshrined male domination and forbade divorce, even in the case of domestic violence or marital rape. Its most progressive elements seem to have never been applied in society at large, and in the 18th and 19th centuries both outsider and insider reports overwhelmingly commented on the low status of women in traditional Armenian society. Armenian families were traditionally patrilocal, labor in the house was divided based on gender and generation. The rigidity of this hierarchy was best illustrated by the subordinate position of the new bride. During the first year of marriage, they were not permitted to speak to anyone except their husbands, and were forbidden from leaving the house. Young Armenian brides created a sign language called Harsneren, which translates to "Language of the Bride." It is a gesture based sign language that developed against the rule of silence imposed on married Armenian women. In some villages, these restrictions continued even after the birth of the first child, and may have lasted more than ten years. In the beginning of the 18th century among the Armenian population in Transcaucasia female suicide was more common than male suicide, in contrast to the situation in the West, where male suicides were 3 to 4 times more common.
In spite of the inferior position of women in Armenian society, the Armenian Apostolic Church allowed women greater opportunities for assuming clerical roles than most other Christian traditions. Unlike the Eastern Orthodox, however, they were strongly opposed to divorce, and as a result the divorce rate in traditional Armenia has always been among the lowest in the Christian world.
Violence against women
According to the United Nations Global Database on Violence against Women, 8.2% of Armenian women suffered domestic abuse and violence in 2021.
Armenia has been lacking well-established laws against domestic aggression and gender-based prejudice as noted by UHCR in 2010.
Following the Velvet Revolution, the new government has taken some steps to combat domestic violence. In 2018, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour established the Domestic Violence Council, in order to develop bylaws and regulations to enforce the Law on Domestic Violence and develop response mechanisms to handle cases of domestic violence. In 2019, decrees were signed to establish shelters, develop regional crisis centres and establish clear protocols to address cases in each province, and create a support fund for survivors.