Researches

Economic and Socio-psychological Status of Refugee Women in Armenia

In 2012, the Women's Resource Center, with the support of UNHCR, conducted a needs assessment among refugee women living in Armenia. We conducted eight focus groups, two hundred and thirty phone calls, and ten in depth interviews with refugee women. The report bellow is structured in the following way: Section 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents. Section 2. Main problems experienced by refugee women. Section 3. Self-perception and interpretation of life events. Section 4. Stereotypes and prejudices toward refugees in Armenia. Section 5. Social networks and trust. Section 6. Perception of the future. Section 7. Problem Solving Strategies. We also developed recommendations on how to improve social-psychological and economic conditions of refugee women.

The whole information on the survey can be found here

Gender Dimensions of the labor market in Armenia

In 2011 Women's Resource Center with the assistance of Norwegian Institute of International Affairs conducted a survey " Gender Dimensions of the Labor Market in Armenia": The goal of the survey was to study the gender dimensions of employment, salaries and benefits in Armenia. On the base of survey recommendations to state, private and civic sectors have been done to decrease gender misbalance on the labor market.

Summary

From the perspective of human development, one of the primary contributors to gender inequality in Armenia is the continuing disparities between economic opportunities among women and men. Women are still not represented in the decision-making spheres at different levels of their communities, and equal opportunities for both genders is still a critical issue due to the gender roles stereotypes and mentality embedded in Armenian society. These obstacles clearly reflect the distribution of power and income in the labor market. Despite the adaptation of national mechanisms for gender equality, such as the National Action Plan for Improving the Status of Women (2004-2010) and the recently adopted Gender Policy Document (2011-2015), as well as the work of women's NGOs, the multiple manifestations of gender inequality in the labor market still remains an important social problem. The roots of this problem, and the accompanying strategies that should be developed to address it, are very comprehensive. Contributing factors to these critical issues include stereotypes and the numerous prejudices concerning women's role in society, and the unwillingness of public, private and even civic organizations to promote human rights to integrate elements of gender mainstreaming within their respective organizations. Another significant problem is the adaptation of many international and national documents and policies that are created under the pressure of the international community without true will and understanding of the importance of practices and culture of gender mainstreaming in all spheres of the society. Moreover, strategies and policies are formulated in a very abstract and unrealistic way, without detailed implementation plans, schedules and monitoring indicators. Based on the survey of gender roles in the labor market, as well as the socio-economic and social-psychological status of women working in the service industry, we suggest including the following policy recommendations: 1) to organize gender audit and monitoring of public, private and civic organizations; 2) to ensure collective appeals and complaints from the employees; 3) to raise the population's awareness about employee-centered work approach; 4) to pass revised law on Sexual Violence; 5) to ensure the development of professional hot-line and counseling services; 6) to strengthen and empower the Workers' Union.

You can find the whole information on survey  here