Remarks by Ms Sofya Simonyan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Armenia to the UN, at “Women in Diplomacy: Eurasian Perspective” Roundtable Discussion, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs

06 March, 2019

It is a pleasure to be part of this conversation today and I am happy to share the panel with my Moldovan colleague. Within the UN, through various platforms and formats, we work together towards promotion of global policies for gender equality, inclusiveness and women empowerment.

Throughout our membership in the UN, which marked its 27th anniversary this month, we have been consistent in prioritizing reforms aiming to accelerate gender equality and empowerment of women outcomes. Armenia is an incoming member to the UN Commission on the Status of Women for the 64th session, which will take place in 2020. This comes in a rather symbolic fashion because 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - the landmark blueprint for advancing women’s rights globally. 2020 will also mark the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security, and it completes a five-year milestone towards attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030Agenda, most notably, Goal 5. 2020 is, indeed, an important date which should become a landmark year for realization of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, everywhere. This requires prioritization of enhancing women’s participation and increasing women’s representation in all spheres of public life.

It is true that at the UN, we often communicate and operate in terms of what we call “inter-governmentally agreed language”, which we shape, negotiate or re-negotiate, and which may (or may not), eventually, translate into concrete actions for tangible results on the ground. So what is it that makes some agreements sustainable and implementable and others not so much? Why does diplomacy fail, even when consensus is seemingly there, and why is multilateralism getting under so much fire? Perhaps, the primary factor for such failure lies with the element of intent. In any relationship, be it domestic, family, sport, work or international relations, there has to be an ability for the parties to listen and communicate with a genuine intention to achieve some sort of an outcome and to honor the commitments it entails. A failure to do so indicates that at least one of the parties is not engaging in good faith or with the right purpose, and/or that at least one of the parties is being misled or unable to identify intent. Now, how many times have we heard that women are more easily deceived than men for reasons like compassion, empathy or warmth, for instance? How many studies have we come across confirming that female negotiators are perceived as more easily misled than their male counterparts because people like to manipulate gender, stereotypes, ethics and competence?

I often think about the role that gender plays in defining the power dynamics in human relationships. I sometimes wonder what our relationships would be like if gender was taken out of the equation? Would a gender-neutral approach help improve trust, integrity or decency? Would it make any difference, would that difference be statistically significant, if yes, to what extent? What would this mean for IR and diplomacy, also, in terms of the gendered perspective on peace and security? My guess is the only way to know it is to achieve a change in terms of the critical mass, by having more women in diplomacy, peace and security, including women mediators and negotiators. In this regard, it is important to acknowledge the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to increase representation of women in prevention and sustaining peace as well as to advance women’s leadership across the entire United Nations system.

Whether gender is part of the equation or not, understanding the power behind human relationships and the underlying dynamics is always fascinating, it triggers interest and attention, especially for those in the field of social sciences. These are, perhaps, some of the questions that made me interested in what eventually shaped my own career path.

I grew up in Armenia at a time when the country was going through a post-Soviet transition, as a newly independent state. In Armenia, the place of a woman has traditionally been defined by very different, at times conflicting tendencies and competing narratives. These involve, on the one hand, a traditionally patriarchal culture that places women central to family, motherhood and care-taking and, as such, entitles them to more gender-restrictive or secondary roles in social and public life, and, on the other hand, by the government policies, including those conducted by the Soviet authorities to underpin the socialist ideology, which was designed to embrace equality. Again, it was all happening against the backdrop of a deeply patriarchal context, which dominated not only in Armenia but also in many other parts of the world at a time (that being said, today, I represent the fourth generation of working mothers in my family). At the same time, the Armenian ancient, medieval and modern literature is full of very strong and epic female characters that prove themselves in stories of glory, courage, struggle and resolve against societal norms.

Legally speaking, the general prohibition of discrimination against women is rather well-anchored in the domestic legal framework in Armenia, including constitutionally, and I am not aware of any discriminatory laws. In fact, all violations of human rights based on discrimination of any sort (including those on the basis of sex) are punishable by the Criminal Code of Armenia. According to Armenia’s Labor Code, women and men shall receive equal pay for equal or equivalent work, and discrimination in job application processes is prohibited. However, it is also true that women continue to be underrepresented in political, social and economic life, as reflected in the international rankings that assess all countries in terms of the overall gender equality, with Armenia usually placed in the middle of the spectrum.

The democratic transformations that took place in Armenia last spring saw unprecedented involvement of women and youth, in what has been identified by the UN Secretary-General as a fantastic example of a participatory process. The snap parliamentary elections, which followed the Velvet revolution, have significantly increased the proportion of women members of parliament, which used to be very low. To compare, in 2005, women made only 3% of the parliamentarians, in 2016 they made 10%, whereas this year women make 25%. The shifts in Armenia have also brought about a positive dynamic in the executive branch, with more women at the level of deputy ministers, for example. In the diplomatic service, the ratio of women ambassadors is about 10% but the situation is steadily improving in the lower tiers of the service with more young women entering the service.

I’d be happy to provide a more detailed overview of our local social, cultural and political context, but in the interests of time I’d like to stop here and to take questions.

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