Women’s Rights in Armenia: Progress, Challenges, and Prospects

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By Tatevik Hovhannisyan, Yerevan, Armenia, May 2026

Women’s rights in Armenia have undergone significant evolution since the country’s independence in 1991. Armenia’s Constitution guarantees equality between women and men, and the 2013 Law on Ensuring Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men1 serves as the cornerstone of gender policy. The establishment of the Council Ensuring Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in 2019 reflects the state’s commitment to institutionalise gender mainstreaming across public administration, at least at a formal level.

While the legal and institutional frameworks for gender equality have expanded over the past three decades, persistent gaps remain between legislative commitments and practical implications. The focus of the analysis will be in three directions: the achievements and challenges women face while combating gender-based violence and sex-based abortion issues; socio-economic rights, and political inclusion.

Gender-Based Violence and Sex-Based Abortions

Achievements

Since Armenia’s independence, due to Western educational opportunities, trainings, seminars and investment in civil society activities, there has been some progress in the matters related to sex-based violence and sex-based abortions. Projects led by the UNDP, Council of Europe and UNFPA have trained professionals (law enforcement, social workers etc.) to change public attitudes and stereotypes, and to improve legal protection and services for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.2

The 2017 Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, Protection of Victims, and Restoration of Peace in the Family marked a turning point.3 However, it faced criticism for emphasizing “family harmony” over survivor protection. The amendments removed the reference to “family harmony” as the law’s primary goal and extended the definition of acts of domestic violence to include, among other things, forced medical and psychiatric interventions, hindering access to medical care, virginity testing, prohibiting or hindering contacts with relatives and friends, and various forms of exercising control over a partner.4

Additionally, those amendments criminalized stalking as a standalone crime. They also clarified that perpetrators of domestic violence can include partners, former partners, and individuals in unregistered marriages. According to the new version, causing a child to witness domestic violence itself constitutes violence cognizable under the law.5

In the domain of sex-based abortions, Armenia amended its reproductive health laws in 2016 to prohibit abortions based on fetal sex. It introduced a three-day waiting period for women seeking the procedure.

Although Armenia signed the Istanbul Convention in 2018, it never ratified it, due to concerns over implications for the country’s constitution and wider societal opposition.

Challenges

Despite the legislative amendments, gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of the most pervasive and underreported human rights issues in Armenia. While recent legal reforms have expanded definitions and introduced protective measures, implementation gaps persist.

According to national and UN data, most GBV cases occur within intimate relationships and often go unreported due to social stigma, victim-blaming, and lack of trust in law enforcement.6 Access to shelters and social services remains limited, particularly in rural areas, where patriarchal traditions discourage women from leaving abusive environments.7

The 2024 domestic violence law amendments marked a major step forward by broadening the legal definition of abuse and strengthening protective orders. However, survivors still encounter obstacles, such as inconsistent police response, limited coordination among institutions, and insufficient long-term rehabilitation support.8

Similar challenges occur related to sex-based abortions. Armenia has one of the world’s highest historical rates of sex-selective abortion, rooted in strong son preference and patriarchal inheritance norms. While abortion is legal up to 12 weeks (and under certain conditions up to 22 weeks), the misuse of prenatal sex determination for selective abortion has skewed the sex ratio at birth – recorded at around 111 boys per 100 girls.9

Broader issues of reproductive justice also persist. Access to contraception and reproductive health services is uneven, especially in rural areas. Comprehensive sexuality education remains politically sensitive. Many women lack information about family planning. The combination of restrictive norms and patchy healthcare access continues to limit women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.10

Socio-Economic Rights of Women

Achievements

The Labour Code of Armenia prohibits gender-based discrimination and guarantees equal pay for equal or equivalent work, alongside maternity protections such as paid leave, restrictions on hazardous jobs, and employment security during pregnancy and postpartum.11

Due to different stimulating programs of empowerment and business literacy raising programmes by UNDP, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the EU4Business initiative, a positive environment was created for women to think of their career, initiate business, etc. On paper, this is indeed an advancement compared to the early years of the independence of Armenia, where it was predominantly a men’s world. Nevertheless, problems still exist.

Challenges

The legislative and external support guarantees are weakened by loopholes and enforcement gaps. Only women under formal employment contracts can access full maternity protections, while those working under service or freelance agreements (a growing share of the workforce) are excluded. The legal standard of “equal pay for equal or equivalent work” also fails to encompass “work of equal value”, allowing indirect gender wage gaps to persist. According to the Council of Europe’s 2022 Equal Pay Review,12 not much progress has been achieved in closing these disparities.

Women remain overrepresented in low-paid and informal sectors, while traditional caregiving roles restrict access to higher-status or higher-income positions. According to the World Bank (2024), Armenian women earn approximately 30% less than men for similar work, and less than half of working-age women participate in the labor force – largely due to caregiving responsibilities. Only 61.2% of mothers with newborns receive maternity cash benefits, and a lower share of women than men receive pensions after the statutory retirement age (79.3% vs. 86.6%).13

These systemic discrepancies highlight the gulf between formal legal guarantees and everyday realities, showing that gender equality in employment requires not only laws but also robust enforcement, labour inspections, and social protection mechanisms that recognize unpaid care work.

Political Rights of Women

Achievements

The Constitution and regulations on the protection of women’s rights in its current positive expression were fixed by the 2015 amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia during the previous government, directly stipulating that women and men have equal rights (Article 30). This improvement was a direct result of the amendment of the Electoral Code in 2016 which introduced electoral quotas. Since then, Armenia has achieved a notable progress in political representation.

As of recent data, women occupy approximately 38% of parliamentary seats, a substantial increase compared to previous decades.14 The Parliament is composed of 107 members, divided between 66 men and 41 women. Women MPs hold 38.2% of total seats.15 This is a significant progress from just a formal quota perspective, although it is obvious that the women are underrepresented.

Furthermore, both the spokesperson of the Parliament and the two deputies are men. From 12 chairpersons of permanent committees only 2 are women (Human rights and Labour affairs). In the executive branch of the authorities, the Prime Minister and the two deputies are also males, but there are more female ministers: 4 out of 12 ministers are women (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice).16

According to UN Women, Armenian women in managerial position comprise 29.7%17 of the total employment class. This statistic also marks a tangible progress but the low rate is a concern. Beyond numbers a deeper dive is needed to explain the complex challenges that women face in politics.

Challenges

Following the 2018 Velvet Revolution, both the international community and Armenian society placed significant hopes in the new government’s promises of democratic reform and human rights protection, including women’s rights. Civil society, which had long advocated for accountability and genuine reform, played a central role in this transformation.

Yet, beyond legislative change, the political reality has become increasingly troubling. Recent incidents reveal that representatives of the ruling party, responsible for upholding democratic values, have themselves engaged in sexist and defamatory behavior toward women politicians and journalists.

In September 2025, MP Artur Hovhannisyan, Secretary of the ruling Civil Contract faction, launched a personal and sexist attack against opposition MP Taguhi Tovmasyan during a press briefing in the National Assembly. The incident followed Hovhannisyan’s interruption of Tovmasyan’s earlier press conference on Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan. Tovmasyan later wrote to Speaker Alen Simonyan, accusing Hovhannisyan of obstructing her parliamentary work and violating journalists’ rights. She also demanded that he undergo daily drug tests before entering parliament. In return, Hovhannisyan accused her of acquiring property “via sexual services” and demanded she undergo daily STD tests.18 Tovmasyan denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit.19

Despite public outrage and condemnation by human rights advocates such as the Women’s Resource Center20 and Zara Hovhannisyan,21 the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsperson) refrained from naming the perpetrator and instead called on both MPs to avoid “discriminatory language”.22 No formal apology or disciplinary action followed.

A similar incident occurred in March 2025, when MP Andranik Kocharyan, Chair of the National Assembly’s Defense and Security Committee, insulted journalist Hripsime Jebejyan, telling her to “wipe [her] lips” and “go to a hair salon” instead of answering her question. Kocharyan had previously made derogatory remarks toward former Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan, implying she should “name her mother and unknown father”.23

Once again, the Human Rights Defender issued a generic statement urging respect for journalists’ work, without addressing the ruling party’s responsibility or demanding accountability.24

Racist and sexist rhetoric has also been normalized at the highest levels of the legislature. In 2023, Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan publicly mocked opposition MP Anna Mkrtchyan, calling her “a Chinese”, implying she was fake or “brought in by someone”.25 While Mkrtchyan may have breached procedural order, the Speaker’s resort to racist and sexist language reflects a reoccurring incident of intolerance.

These incidents expose a deeper structural problem: the persistence of sexism, impunity, and party loyalty over principle within Armenia’s political elite. Despite rhetoric about democracy, human rights and equality, the ruling party’s unwillingness to condemn or sanction such behaviour undermines trust in institutions and weakens public confidence in gender equality commitments. The silence of fellow parliamentarians may suggest that sexism in politics is systemic rather than isolated: tolerated as long as it preserves internal unity.

Ultimately, this pattern erodes the democratic progress envisioned after the Velvet Revolution, revealing a troubling gap between formal democratic discourse and actual political culture. The lack of accountability for discriminatory and sexist conduct within the ruling majority calls into question the state’s ability and willingness to uphold the principles of equality and respect it claims to champion.

Conclusion

Armenia’s legal and institutional framework formally guarantees gender equality and women’s rights, but implementation gaps, entrenched social norms, and political hypocrisy continue to obstruct meaningful progress. Across sectors – from personal safety to the workplace and the parliament – the persistence of patriarchal attitudes reveals that equality on paper is not yet equality in practice.

Legal reforms have not translated into effective protection or empowerment. Institutional inertia and conservative social attitudes keep women’s health and safety dependent on NGOs rather than guaranteed by the state.

Armenia’s gender gap in employment reflects the intersection of weak legal enforcement, care burdens, and traditional gender expectations that constrain women’s economic independence. Political equality cannot exist where misogyny is tolerated within the very institutions tasked with upholding democracy.

Most worryingly, the current government includes many, including female members, who hail from the NGO sector. They have had years of trainings, provided by international organisations and mostly Western governments. However, since entering the government they no longer pursue the anti-discrimination agenda.

Recommendations

To bridge the gap between formal commitments and lived realities, Armenia needs both policy reform and cultural transformation:

  1. Invest in public awareness and education to prevent disinformation campaigns, emphasizing gender equality as a national security matter and democratic value, not an isolated “women’s issue”.
  2. Institutionalize accountability in politics: adopt and enforce a parliamentary ethics code with zero tolerance for sexist or defamatory speech; empower the Human Rights Defender to address gender-based harassment within public institutions.
  3. Promote women’s economic empowerment through gender-responsive budgeting, targeted financing for women-led enterprises, and mentoring networks to scale small businesses.
  4. Establish pay transparency to close the gender pay gap by introducing regulations on pay transparency to identify and correct pay gaps. Ensure the implementation of equal pay for equal work concept.
  5. Expand flexible work and childcare infrastructure to maximise women’s workforce participation and enhance their economic contribution.
  6. Guarantee reproductive justice by preventing forced sex-based abortions, ensuring universal access to education, qualified medical support and legal advice, especially in rural areas.

Sources and Notes

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