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OmbudsWOMAN: Larisa Alaverdyan says women are marginalized in society of force
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The political activity of the first ever “Ombudsman” (Ombudswoman) of Armenia Larisa Alaverdyan dates back to the 1970s when the young physicist was elected a deputy of the Yerevan city council.
“I have never been restricted by being a woman in my work.” |
“All those positions were formal, but I used to work very actively and used to try to defend the rights of those people who applied to me. That seemed amazing to many people,” says Alaverdyan. “The majority were citizens with housing problems. I can recall a case on Lalayants street I solved with much difficulty,” tells Alaverdyan.
As fate had willed it, ombudswoman Alaverdyan’s readiness to solve the same problem of the numerous residents of the same Lalayants street became one of the reasons her term as Armenia’s first ombudsman ended in controversy.
The war in Karabakh led Alaverdyan to create a rights activist organization Against the Legal Arbitrariness NGO, she has been leading since 1991.
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“The work aimed at releasing hostages and illegally detained persons was quite difficult, but I have never been restricted by my being a woman in my work,” says Alaverdyan.
“When I took the post of the ombudsman the main topic of speculation was not my being a woman, but my Karabakhi descent.”
Alaverdyan thinks traditions are frequently distorted, the conservativeness ascribed to Armenians is artificial; the important role women have played in Armenia are reflected in the history and national traditions and women have always had their right for a say.
The first Armenian ombudswoman is confident restraining women from the political field is tied up with social-political tradition.
“Women are always marginalized in countries that are ruled by force instead of the law; this factor along with traditions conditions the situation in Armenia,” she says. “Countries with more female inclusion in government are less ruled by force. Today the state officials are not interested in involving women, because the deals in the non-legal field are more difficult to achieve with women than with men.”
The places in which women are included are artificial, Alaverdyan says, as women are mainly given positions where no serious decisions are expected to be made and there are no large financial means for appropriation. The spheres open to women are not the ones where serious decisions are made.
“Women’s marginalization is a result of the geopolitical orientation of the small group of officials who control the leverages of power and the monopoly of serious decision making in the country,” Alaverdyan says. “It is not a result of weakness or the lack of professionalism with women.”
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