As part of the women’s rights movement in Armenia and in support of its development and empowerment, the Women’s Fund Armenia stands with its allies in condemning the concerning developments in the political sphere recently. The Fund expresses its support for organizations, initiatives, and individuals advocating for human rights, women’s rights, and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals who continue their crucial struggle despite ongoing threats and targeted attacks.
Sharing the concerns of our like-minded allies, we join the demand and declare that sexist, misogynistic, and violent men should not hold public office. We urge Vardan Ghukasyan to stay away from women’s legs and politics.
During a recent press conference, the candidate of the Communist Party of Armenia, Vardan Ghukasyan, made misogynistic, sexist statements and used hate speech. A person who has always reproduced every possible stereotype of patriarchy with his criminal-oligarchic nature has ambitions to lead Armenia’s second largest city, Gyumri.
Addressing a female journalist as “sweetheart” and behaving vulgarly, this man accused women of violence against them on live TV. This person blamed “beautifully dressed, open-legged girls” at the press conference, calling them the main reason for his sins.
During the press conference, Ghukasyan also uttered hate speech towards LGBTIQ+ people, emphasizing that Gyumri is the FATHERland of Armenia and, in his words, LGBTIQ+ people cannot be privileged. This person made a threatening promise to “respond personally” if LGBTIQ+ people decide to hold any action in Gyumri. “Look what I will do to LGBT,” he said.
It is distressing to see that patriarchal approaches and misogynistic statements by various political figures are gaining momentum in our country. Almost every day, we learn from the press about another sexist, misogynistic statement, hate speech and violence by another political figure (whether it is the government or the opposition).
Recently, the activity of the Far-Right in the political and public sphere has been noticeable. Such developments in Armenia are disturbing. A number of organizations, initiatives, and individual activists dealing with human rights issues have already expressed their concerns about these issues. around. The Women’s Fund Armenia shares all concerns and strongly condemns such phenomena.
Armenia is currently in challenging times and now more than ever we see a need to unite and fight together against this cruel patriarchal machine, for which human life and dignity have no value.
Women’s Fund Armenia
