Mother Armenia challenges the traditional female role

We are two Swedish students from Lund University, Gender department who have been given the great opportunity to be interns at Public Information and Need of Knowledge NGO for almost four months. Our time in Armenia has been full of impressions. Most of our time has been spent in Yerevan and we have gotten to know the city quite well. During our stay we have been visiting Matenadaran where we saw the huge monument of Mashtots; we have been to the National History Museum and seen everything from the world’s oldest shoe to big phalluses; we have been walking around the stands at the vernisage with both old USSR objects and pieces of traditional Armenian art; we have been to the Cascade with its amazing view of Yerevan and we have been to Opera and seen Aida.

Yerevan is indeed a very masculine city with its angular construction and many monuments of heroic men, depicted as stereotypes of masculinity. Mother Armenia watches over gray, cold buildings from her elevated plateau. With her sword and her strong appearance she challenges the traditional female role. She is just one of the interesting things in Yerevan and Armenia as a whole. Post Soviet history meets ancient history, west meets east and everything is mixed together in this country between the mountains.

We have been in this interesting city since the end of August and we have seen the seasons change. From hot summer with the streets of Yerevan boiling, to the streets covered in a thin layer of snow. We have grown very fond of the country and especially the people we have met here. They have made us see through the homogeneous facade and see that Yerevan is more diverse than might first be noticed. When we walked the streets of Yerevan, the first couple of times we only noticed men in black, shiny jackets and pointy shoes, women in high heels and policemen in really big hats. Then we realized that there is so much more to it.

One thing by which we were impressed and surprised was the large number of NGOs that work with women’s rights and gender equality. We have had the chance to meet with a lot of them and see the great things they are doing. Although the work being done regarding women’s rights is very inspiring and well needed, it is sad to notice that Pink Armenia’s work with LGBT issues is an exception. Both homophobia, transphobia and sexism need to be dealt with as they are strongly connected to each other.

Overall our experience in Armenia has been refreshing, overwhelming, amazing, fun and life changing, but also hard, challenging and difficult. Most of all it has been inspiring and we really much would like to come back in the future.

Pavlina Ekdahl
Hillevi House