Discrimination against women is deeply rooted in Armenia, lawyer says
"Law plays an important role. Everything must be done to adopt a well formulated law, but law is not enough to combat the discrimination against women," during the discussion entitled "Draft law against discrimination: forms of discrimination in Armenia" dedicated to International Day for Tolerance, Program Director of Eurasia Partnership Foundation Isabella Sargsyan noted.
In her words the law must provide normal legal mechanisms and must involve various groups. "In parallel to the adoption of the law it is necessary to work with news agencies, as the way such themes are covered and presented to the society is of paramount importance.
Advocate, Project Coordinator of Women's Resource Center Anahit Simonyan added that the law can never be the only guarantee which is enough to tackle the issue of gender-based discrimination. The state policy plays an important role.
Turning to the issue of the common forms of discrimination in Armenia the advocate noted that all the forms of discrimination (starting from social up to religious) are widespread in Armenia.
"The discrimination against women is deeply rooted in Armenia, the evident expressions of which are the cases of domestic violence and sex-selective abortions. It is necessary to realize that discrimination is a very comprehensive and profound phenomenon ranging from treatment to norm and from norm to an activity. And very often the state targets the result instead of its cause when tackling the issue," Anahit Simonyan noted.