US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN784

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000784 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/PPD SRUEDY, EUR/CACEN FOR ESIDEREAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KWMN, PREL, OEXC, SCUL, AM 
SUBJECT: "To enter the 21st century or not?" - PAS 
Yerevan hosts International Women's Forum. 
 
1.  SUMMARY: On March 21, the PAS Yerevan organized a 
highly successful forum in honor of International 
Women's Month, featuring prominent women working in the 
fields of international affairs, politics, business, 
media and law.  The event drew capacity crowds and was 
covered by three television stations and at least five 
print media.  PAS has received much positive feedback 
from the participants, who praised the embassy for 
organizing a unique event that addressed the critical 
and sensitive issue of gender in Armenia.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  In honor of International Women's Month, PAS 
organized a day long "International Women's Forum" at 
the American University of Armenia's Business Center. 
Leading women working in the fields of international 
affairs, politics, business, media and law were invited 
to make presentations based on their personal 
experiences, take questions and engage in discussion 
with the audience.  PAS advertised the forum through 
alumni, university and NGO listserves and bulletin 
boards and was overwhelmed with more than 200 RSVPs, a 
rare occurrence in Armenia.  At the opening of the 
forum, the hall was over capacity.  Many of the 
participants, who were about 90 percent female, 
traveled from the far regions of Armenia to attend. 
 
3.  Several high-level women took part in the forum. 
The first panel was dedicated to women working in 
international affairs and included the U.S. Charge d' 
Affaires, the British Ambassador and the Turkey Desk 
Officer from the Armenian MFA.  The Charge opened the 
forum by excerpting Secretary Powell's Message on 
International Women's Month, highlighting the 
Department of State's commitment to human rights and 
called on those present to consider that each and every 
woman, no matter how modest, has a contribution to make 
in influencing and inspiring future generations.  The 
British Ambassador pointed out the connection between 
gender equality and poverty and gave her ideas about 
ways to promote equality on an individual level.  The 
Turkey Desk Officer shared several interesting 
statistics about Armenian women working in the MFA; 
women account for 28 percent of Armenian diplomats and 
are primarily serving at the mid-level, there are 
currently three women Ambassadors and women face great 
difficulty in securing overseas assignments where most 
Ambassadors prefer an all-male staff. 
 
4. The women in politics panel featured Lydumila 
Harutyunyan, head of the independent, non-aligned 
Dignity Party, Hranush Hakobyan, a prominent Member of 
Parliament, and an Armenian-American professor of 
political science. Their presentations generated a 
lively debate about the need to raise and enforce an 
existing quota (currently 5 percent) on female 
representation in Parliament, the need for women to 
test their cultural boundaries and get more involved in 
politics and the role of NGOs (which are primarily 
dominated by women in Armenia) as incubators for 
political activists. Harutyunyan exhorted the women in 
the audience to take control and define their own role 
in society, ending the panel with the question: "Are we 
going to enter the 21st century or not?" 
 
5. After lunch, the President of the National Press 
Club and the director of InterNews, an NGO that 
promotes media development, shared their opinion that 
current media programming in Armenia does not serve 
women's interests, prompting a discussion with the 
audience on whether or not media outlets should develop 
special content for women, with the majority of the 
audience opposed to softer subject matter and instead 
calling for programming that addresses gender issues 
and promotes equality. 
 
6. A lieutenant colonel in the police, a litigation 
attorney, an assistant community prosecutor, a lawyer 
specializing in international human rights law and the 
head of the International Affairs Department in the 
Prosecutor General's office made up the women in law 
panel and shared their particularly interesting 
viewpoints as women in a line of work overwhelmingly 
dominated by men in Armenia.  They shared their own 
success stories and asserted that there are 
increasingly more opportunities for women in this 
field. Most were quite young in age and their positive 
outlook was very inspiring for the audience. 
 
7.  The final panel was devoted to women in business. 
The director of an international business training 
center stressed the importance of getting a solid 
foundation in business practices and law.  The owner of 
a popular caf and bookstore shared her humorous wisdom 
on the challenges to women who want to start businesses 
in Armenia, noting that everyone must make the choice 
to either "stay under the blanket and sleep or get an 
education and do their best!" 
 
8. COMMENT: This event was a great success. Hundreds of 
women from universities, NGOs, businesses and the 
government were given the opportunity to hear success 
stories, exchange wisdom on overcoming the strong 
gender discrimination that exists in Armenian culture 
and frankly discuss opportunities and challenges to 
women in Armenia.  Participants told us that this was 
the largest such meeting on women's issues in Armenia 
in years and PAS received multiple expressions of 
appreciation for organizing it.  The event generated 
significant and positive press exposure as three 
television stations and at least five print media 
covered the event over several days.  The program 
effectively and publicly demonstrated the United 
States' commitment to promoting gender equality and 
human rights.  END COMMENT. 
 
Walker