Armenia

Executive Summarychildren and those heading households) are at the greatest risk of extreme poverty. Whilethe number of women with bank accounts has increased, cultural norms still dictatethat property is usually inherited by and registered to male family members, and makingfinancial decisions is usually considered a “male” role in the household.Male and female employment patterns differ. Although women, on average, have ahigher level of education than men, their labor force participation rate is lower, in part aconsequence of child care and household obligations. A significant proportion of womenare engaged in informal work, which leaves them without the protection of the LaborLaw (e.g., a lack of maternity or child care leave). Women also represent a larger share ofthe registered unemployed and tend to spend longer time searching for work. Men aremore likely to become unemployed at the end of seasonal work, while women are muchmore likely to stop working due to family circumstances. Official unemployment figuresand patterns may not take into account the large number of men who migrate to othercountries for work, and can therefore be misleading.Of those who are in formal employment, women are overly represented in public sectorjobs (e.g., health care and education) and earn the lowest salaries, while men predominatein technical and better-paid fields (e.g., construction, manufacturing, and transport). Thegender gap does appear to be closing in wholesale and retail trade, and some industriesalso show greater gender balance in hospitality and financial services. In addition to thishorizontal segregation, the labor market also exhibits vertical segregation, whereby womenare underrepresented in upper management. About 67.8% of managers are estimated tobe male. In business, the number of female senior managers has declined, from 27% in2012 to 23% in 2013. One of the most visible consequences of such stratification of thelabor market is a large gender wage gap. Women’s average monthly wages represented only64.4% of men’s in 2012, which gives Armenia one of the largest gender pay gaps in EasternEurope and Central Asia.Labor migration is an overwhelmingly male phenomenon; more than 70% of migrants fromArmenia to the Russian Federation and other countries are estimated to be men. There issome indication that migration itself is becoming a “traditional male” occupation. Althoughlittle study has been made of the impacts of migration on the “women left behind,” formany families, remittances are known to cover merely the most basic needs; and onlya small proportion is invested or saved. Women who do not migrate with their partnersgenerally take on responsibility for running the household and earning extra income. Yetwhile many women have become de facto heads of households, there has not been a widershift in gender roles that would result in more women in positions of public leadership.Gender issues in education. Armenia exhibits gender parity in enrollment rates fromprimary to higher education, with the only significant deviations occurring when studentsenter vocational or professional education. Enrollment figures show that girls tend to stayin education for a greater number of years, up to the level of postgraduate education. Boysmore often enter vocational education after having completed basic or general education.However, despite women’s high level of educational attainment, this has not resulted incorresponding gains in the labor market.xiv