Below you can get acquainted with the programs implemented with the support of the Kvinna Till Kvinna in 2023։
Essays on feminist topics (the essays will soon be available on our website):
- Yelena Yegiazaryan – Yelena is a therapist. During the cooperation, Yelena wrote an essay on “The impact of the Second World War on the pro-natalist and family policy of the USSR.” In the framework of the essay, the “Increasing state aid for pregnant women, women with multiple children and single mothers, fortifying the protection of motherhood and childhood, defining the honorary maternal titles “Heroic Mother”, “Maternal Glory” order and the creation of the “Motherhood” medal,” adopted on July 8, 1944, is presented and its impact on gender, family relations and reproductive behavior of USSR citizens.
- Evia Hovhannisyan – Evia is a historian, cultural anthropologist. She works for Heinrich Boell Foundation, Yerevan, South Caucasus Region. Evia wrote an essay on “The Gender Aspect of the Commercialization of War”. The purpose of this research is to examine the current (post-war) practices of war commercialization in Armenia and their gendered aspects in order to understand how war is manipulated in terms of everyday profitability and entrepreneurship, and whether it has a gendered component. For the research, the author plans to use the toolkit of socio-anthropological methodology, combining discursive and content analyzes and expert interviews.
- Tatev Baldrian – Tatev Baldryan is a researcher, writes on human rights and women’s issues. During the cooperation with the WFA, she wrote an essay “Nation, Army, Victory…”.: militarization as a gendered and hypermasculine process. All states rely on some ideological direction, which constructs public perceptions of national and social identity, as well as security. Nationalism does this through the overriding importance of difference – ethnic, national, class, religious and otherwise. This essay will examine how nationalism manages to construct its security ideology through the imposition of militarized gender roles.
- Sona Nikoghosyan – Sona Nikoghosyan is a researcher, journalist. During the cooperation with the WFA, She wrote an essay attempting to critically evaluate the injunction between gender equality and the risk of sexual violence as Armenia moves forward in its military reforms. The essay focuses on the history of patriarchy in Armenia and what gender norms mean in terms of armed conflict in relation to the Protector/Protected roles often used in militarized contexts (Young, 2003). Essay also looked at the precedents of the voluntary militia unit and whether the Armenian Ministry of Defense is considering the worries of violence against women.
Support to borderline NGOs and projects
- Femforward NGO (Former Astghatsolk NGO) – “What are women silent about?”: The purpose of the project was to contribute to the increase of resistance of the women of the border communities of Chambarak, Vardenis and Jermuk to the consequences of the conflict. Within the framework of the project, workshops were organized to raise the awareness of the women of the border communities regarding the dangers of the pro-natalist policy conducted by the RA authorities and the decisions made in the context of militarization and peacebuilding, affecting women.
- Harmonia NGO – “War through the lips of eyewitness women”: The goal of the project was to form a conscious attitude of at least 45 residents of Yerevan towards the situation in the country and their own lives, in order to mitigate public escapism in Armenia, by listening to oral stories of women recorded immediately after the war (November-December 2020).
- Gayane Ghazaryan – “Weaving Stories from Syunik” project’s main goal is the encouragement of teenage girls to express their views on current issues concerning themselves and their communities (peace, security, education etc.). Girls got acquainted with the basics of journalism. Afterwards, they moved on photographing and writing short texts on their surroundings and community according to selected prompts that relate to peace and security. The activities carried out through the proposed project will later be part of a larger research she is intending to do about the youth living in border villages of Armenia. As for the participants, the skills acquired during the workshop may serve as a starting point for their future educational/ career aspirations.
