When Armenian scientist Naira Manasyan, 35, was developing her award-winning invention, she spent her days caring for her children and sleepless nights working on experiments.

Manasyan, who holds a doctorate in textile and light industry material science, came from a family of scientists and it was natural to her to want to follow in her parents’ footsteps. But her fate is not the norm yet in Armenia: while the percentage of women pursuing a career in science or technology is relatively high, they face a number of challenges and stereotypes their male colleagues do not. 

Manasyan recalls how her mother warned her it would be difficult to balance her work and home life.

"My mother worried about the hurdles I might face, especially concerning marriage. She often cited examples of peers who quit their scientific careers after tying the knot,” Naira says, noting she got married and had children while she was still a student. 

՛՛I felt the weight of work with new responsibilities, especially when I was working on a new invention and while pregnant working on my diploma work…but at the expense of having sleepless nights, I was able to pass my diploma work and also become the author of a new invention, which earned me the 2013 Young Scientist award from the Armenian Ministry of Education.”

Hripsime, 34 years old, physicist, says Armenian society’s gender expectations and limitations are a major challenge. As a post-graduate researcher at the University of Reading in Great Britain, Hripsime has observed significant differences between female students’ experiences in the UK and her experiences in Armenia at Alikhanyan National Lab, where she graduated with a degree in physics. “The challenge of being a female scientist while working in Armenia is to overcome stereotypes. For example, women don't work with a lot of equipment, they don't weld, they don't calibrate. Here in England, my advisor is a female engineer and does all the work herself and encourages me to do the same, which is very satisfying and satisfying,” she says.

“I have always realized the challenges; that it will not be easy in the field, regardless of whether you are a woman or a man. I treated the obstacles as normal and did not let them affect me...In Armenia, it is mostly not getting support from the family. An Armenian man rarely does housework with his wife, and the woman herself has to carry that burden along with work.”

The expectation that women should put family before career is not the only obstacle. Hasmik Aleksanyan, the head of youth projects at UNICEF in Armenia, notes that often young girls’ parents do not encourage them to pursue a career in science because it is deemed “unladylike.” 

“The reality of today's society is that there are women who are pressured by their family members [not to become scientists] because it is unladylike or the field in Armenia is not advantageous and very hard to find a well-paying job,” she explains. “Then there is the impact of stereotypes that influence them to avoid the field, like girls won't succeed, they are not smart enough, these fields are for men. So working with girls and making those opportunities for the field to be more approachable, we are engaging boys as well in order to make them see the potential of girls and change the future generations perspective on the topic.”

Alvard, 19, had to convince her parents that she could make a career for herself as a mathematician. 

“They hoped I would become a teacher of Armenian language and literature. My father believed a girl should focus on raising children and teaching. I was disheartened because I had a passion for science, especially physics and math,” she says. "I was always told I had a natural talent for math. But I lacked the confidence to pursue a career in science until one day, my physics teacher introduced us to the story of Marie Curie, the first Nobel Prize winner. Hearing about her strength and perseverance gave me chills. I realized you don't need a family of scientists to follow that path—only belief in yourself and hard work."

 Alvard decided to forge her own path the day she went to the university to pay for the entrance exam. “I felt an intense surge of inspiration and courage. Without my family's knowledge, I took a leap of faith and paid for the math exam, believing in myself and my dreams," she recalls. She passed—and then had to break the news to her family. With time, she says, they agreed to support her. Today she is studying math at Shirak State University.

To encourage more girls to explore science and programming—and help their parents understand the value of these fields as future careers— UNICEF created Game Changers Program for girls aged 12-24 in 2023. The program encourages them to create video games and challenge stereotypes and misconceptions that hinder girls' involvement in science, technology, engineering, and math. In Armenia, over 300 girls applied in the first year of the program.  UNICEF’s Hasmik Aleksanyan notes that the organization’s research shows just 13.5 percent of engineering students in Armenia are female—and just over 29 percent of programming students. “That was alarming,” she says. “Something should be done to engage women and girls in STEM as well as develop their skills to build their self-confidence.’’

Mariam Petrosyan, 19, says the Game Changers Program changed her life. She joined it by chance, when she was in high school in Beniamin village, in Armenia’s Shirak region.

“In the villages, you meet the same people more often every day, and you learn about them and yourself.And this already leads to the fact that people ask questions, sometimes give advice and continue promoting the old stereotypes,” she says. “Education is very important and everyone agrees with that, but it is also limited for girls in the sense that if you are a girl you need to have backup options so that you don't have to take risks.And everyone offers the best model: school, university, work and marriage. And I was supposed to repeat the same thing!”

But her experience in the Game Changers Program opened a new world for her. 

“It was interesting for me to find out that girl play more video games than boys, so I had to take part in that journey,” she says. Together with her team, she created a game with female main characters, challenging the idea that only men save the world. “We presented plots highlighting the female heroes of our national epic David of Sassoon, which received great approval,” Mariam says.

The game did so well she was selected to represent Armenia at the Stockholm Ideations session in Sweden. 

“To get here from my small village, I talked a lot and convinced my family that no one will think anything bad about me, because in the village they still approach applicants for such programs with skepticism, because they are not informed,” she says. Today, she is a student at the American Franklin and Marshall University. “I want to educate myself to go back and help my part in involving more girls in IT and bring in the field,” she says.

This feature story was prepared with support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) South Caucasus Regional Office. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of FES .

This article was produced in the framework of Chai Khana Fellowship program - Spring/Summer 2024