!âJĞ="justify">Why is it that the three women in Armenian politics in arguably the best position to run for president - Hranush Hakobyan, Larisa Alaverdyan and Lyudmila Harutyunyan - have never done so?
 
None of these three bright and experienced women ever dared or found it appropriate to compete with men for presidency. 
 
They have six higher education degrees between them, and all of them have been involved in politics since independence, including Hakobyan, a seasoned and popular politician who has not lost a parliamentary election since 1990.

But only one, Lyudmila Harutyunyan, seriously considered running for president, in 1998, but she ultimately didn’t register and hasn’t concretely said why.

“I always consider myself in politics,” says Harutyunyan, who is leading a political party and has represented Armenia both in the former Soviet Union and currently, in Europe.

While in other countries women candidates has become common and the US may be about to elect its first female president, Armenia – where 52 percent of the population is female – has yet to see a woman run.

According to results of many surveys conducted by NGOs and research companies in Armenia, only one fourth of respondents reported they are ready to vote for a woman president. The rest find it impossible because of the following factors: first society is not ready for that; second, women themselves are not ready and don’t have enough political experience and power. But does that perception correspond with reality?

Hakobyan is a parliamentarian who now runs the committee of science, education, culture, youth and sport issues. She holds a first specialization in Math Science and a PhD in Law. She has achieved success in the political field even during Soviet times. After independence she carried on with a political career, being elected MP four times by the majoritarian electoral system. She was Minister of Social Welfare from 1996 – 1998.

A current Armenian deputy, Alaverdyan was Armenia’s first Ombudsman for human rights. She has two master’s degrees, math science and law, and she also has a specialization from the Moscow State Academy of Management Staff Training. She got involved in politics through social work and was chief of the NGO “Against legal Anarchy,” a group that has focused on refugee and hostage issues arising from the Kharabakh conflict for many years. Last May, she earned a seat in parliament for being second on the opposition Heritage party list.

A professor of sociology, Harutyunyan has degrees or specializations from the Sorbonne University in Paris, Moscow State University, and Yerevan State University. She holds doctorates in philosophical sciences and economics. Now she represents Armenia in the European committee of social rights. Harutyunyan got involved in politics during the years of the Soviet Union’s collapse.

She was the only one that nominated her candidacy in the presidential elections of 1996, but without starting the fight, she turned her candidacy down, joining one of the other candidates. She is one of the founding members of the Dignified Future party, and after leaving it one she founded and currently leads the Dignity party.

The biographies of these women, their work experience, scientific and educational qualifications are not any less, if not more than the nine candidates’ biographies competing for the presidential position right now.

But none of them ever dared or found it appropriate to compete with men. Why not? Even the women most likely to be in the position themselves aren’t sure.

Alaverdyan thinks that women are practical, are consciously aware of the situation and don’t want to take part in the political games, the results of which she says “are already obvious.”

“The time of real actions, for women, hasn’t arrived yet,” she says.

As recently as December, Alaverdyan’s name was mentioned by Azg newspaper as a potential candidate all opposition parties could unite to support. She says the publication made her think about having a woman president in Armenia, which she doesn’t exclude for the near future.

Harutyunyan has hope for the future as well, and not just for her but for the youth. She considers herself personally responsible to educate young people as worthy citizens. From that perspective, she always considers herself in politics. Hakobyan is worried for the young leaders too: she designed a youth parliament, where all the students from different universities can participate. And, in comparison with the real parliament, here the gender equality is representative, with half the student’s mock parliament being made up of women.

In the 2007 parliamentarian elections, women earned 9.2% of seats, up from 5.3 % in 2003. Though compared to the last years some positive progress was recorded and even for the first time a woman was elected Deputy Speaker, the parliament remains at a low level of female representation.

By comparison, Armenia lags behind both the world and the region. According to Inter-Parliamentarian Union’s facts, in the unicameral parliaments of the world, women on average make up 17.2%. According to the details of the same organization, there are 11.3 % women in the parliament of Azerbaijan, and in the Georgian parliament women take up 9.4 % of the seats.

Gender inequality in the Armenian parliament, in the political decision-making level, is one part of the issue. Currently there is one female minister, one female province head and no female mayors. An analysis of civic jobs shows that women mostly hold positions in the low and middle levels of the pyramid.

Experts say the best hope for building female leadership is education. The Women Republican Council is working with young girls and women, and the Educated Women’s Association, holds political seminars for women working for NGOs and political parties.

NGO-run gender education programs are gradually entering the schools and universities, and experience shows that girls and women who have had that education improve their self–esteem dramatically.