YEREVAN. – Together with accepting March 8 as a holiday, women are subjected to various discriminations and violence during the remaining 365 days.

Feminist Platform Armenia representative Elvira Meliksetyan told the aforementioned to Armenian News – NEWS.am correspondent today.

According to her, the first discrimination which a still unborn girl faces is the issue of existing, when the parents decide whether the child will live or not after learning about her sex.

“Armenia comes third in the world according to the number of sex-selective abortions, while [Armenia’s] Gegharkunik province actually comes first in the world,” Meliksetyan said.

In her opinion, if the girl manages to come into the world, she faces discriminatory treatment already in the family where she is obliged to take certain sex roles. 

“The fact that Armenian woman is identified with mother, and the opinion that the Armenian woman is first of all Armenian and than a woman, is a taboo, since nobody belongs to a certain group, she is free,”the activist said.

In Meliksetyan’s words, social stereotypes also result in obstacles for women’s self-expression. In her words, certain professional areas continue remaining close for girls, who are considered cheap labor force and are subjected to domestic violence.

“Currently women are paid 36 percent less than men, and they can’t be represented in all spheres either. We [also] have a problem in the area of politics, since women’s involvement in decision-making constitutes only 8.3 percent, whereas women make 52 percent of the [Armenian] population,” she said.

According to the representatives of Feminist Platform Armenia, March 8 is an occasion not to make gifts to women and please them, but to voice women’s rights and defend them.