As children, Lusine Hovhannisyan and her friends loved playing “the office,” they would set up desks and take turn to be “the CEO.” Her favourite name was Arthur, her sister’s Ararat. It was always a man because “a CEO could not be a woman.” Over 15 years, and an argument with a friend, later Lusine was pushed to reflect about women’s rights.
authors
Aren Melikyan
Aren Melikyan studied journalism at the Yerevan State University, then worked as a TV reporter at the Public Television of Armenia. Currently he is working as an investigative reporter for the "Union of informed citizens" NGO. Melikyan is interested in media and propaganda theory, as well as documentary and European studies.
Author's stories
Confronting Feminism in Armenia
Holes dot the tarmac, there are so many that the passageway hardly looks like a road - yet that four-kilometre strip from the Gyumri Armavir highway is a lifeline for the 500-odd residents of Haykadzor, a settlement sitting right on the border dividing Turkey and Armenia.
The Price of a Closed Border
When Anna, Arpine and Naira left their husbands after years of abuse, Armenia did not yet have an anti-domestic-violence law. Not that it would have helped them much. The three Armenian women, who declined to provide their last names, have more than wounds in common: all of them have been prevented from being with their children since they escaped alleged spousal abuse some years ago.
Memories of Motherhood
Women are part of the reason why Armenia now has the prime minister it does. Yet for many, the “revolution” that brought reform-minded protest leader Nikol Pashinyan to power this May has only just begun.
The Women Behind Armenia's "Velvet Revolution"
The number 29 on the sign should be changed to 30, as 30 years have passed since 64 refugee families moved into Hotel 'Nairi'. Today, the hotel is home to three generations, including the grandchildren and the children of the people who were forced to flee Azerbaijan in the 1980s, during the period leading to the Karabakh conflict. Despite the years of waiting, they have not lost hope that one day they will be given houses in Armenia.
Room Number 707
Boris Vanyan wrestles confidently with the steering wheel as he drives along rough mountain trails under the early morning sun: tracking down poachers is not a 9am-till-5pm job.
Hunting poachers along Armenia’s borderline
In most ways, Satin Aleksanyan, 27, is a typical young woman: she loves soccer, practices yoga and dreams of moving to France.
“Do you have any news yet?”
In Turkey and the three countries of the South Caucasus, nearly everyone has experienced the pain of conflict. But while people in the region may dream of peace, many prefer to speak of war. Efforts to resolve military conflicts and rebuild relations are often marginalized; the few brave enough to seek peace are frequently dismissed as traitors.