YEREVAN. – The salaries of men and women are quite different in Armenia, independent analyst Nvard Manasyan said at a press conference on Monday. 

She presented the data of a new study on discrimination against women, and which the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) conducted in the country, from 2015 to 2016.

“As a rule, women [in Armenia] are engaged in domains where the wage is below the average wage recorded in the republic,” Manasyan said. “Women [in Armenia] especially work in the domains of agriculture, education, health care, [and] culture.”

In the analyst’s words, according to the study, women in Armenia are not engaged in the ICT (information and communications technology) and financial sectors, where the salaries are quite high.

Furthermore, even though more than 60 percent of Armenia’s public sector workers are women, they occupy the lower chains.

“Women occupy a very small percentage in the decision-making positions [in Armenia],” Nvard Manasyan added.

Head of UNFPA Armenia Country Office, Garik Hayrapetyan, for his part, noted that due to the limitations on women working in Armenia, the country’s annual GDP loss is US$50-60 million.