Armenia

Mainstreaming Gender in Project Operationsmanaged by women are expected to be established annually. 252 Again, although these goalsand targets are very important, it is also essential to improve monitoring and evaluation ofwomen’s experiences in business to capture other positive developments, such as womenadvancing from the individual and micro level to the level of a small business, and womentaking leadership roles in family enterprises (even though they may not be the legallyregistered owner).177. Two examples were given of difficulties in taking a “women-only” approach tobusiness development. In one case, under a program that has now ended, women weregiven special opportunities to apply for loans, which apparently resulted in men reregisteringtheir businesses in the name of female family members to qualify. “[T]here aresome borrowers who only participate in the credit facilities using their privileged status aswomen, while the money and control over the money is transferred to men.” 253 Even thoughsome women benefited from increased access to credit, there is a general perception thatthe number of female entrepreneurs in this particular sector (agriculture) did not increase.There is a risk that the goals of a women-oriented entrepreneurship program can becircumvented and thus will not bring particular benefit to women. In a second example,an interviewee from an organization with experience working in marzer with high male andfemale unemployment rates said that men found it difficult to understand why womenwere privileged for loans. In this case, the NGO felt that a women-focused approach couldlead to conflicts and, thus, made loans available to men as well.178. Women’s businesses are less diverse. Women’s businesses are not only mostly atthe individual or micro level and often home-based; they also occupy specific sectors thatare traditionally considered “female” specializations. 254 Official data on the sectors wheremicro and SMEs operate are not sex-disaggregated, but focus group participants explainedthat women are most often engaged in service-providing businesses, generally in areaswith which women are familiar or which cater to other women such as tailoring, beautysalons, entertainment, hospitality and tourism (e.g., running guesthouses), education (e.g.,child care, private kindergartens or tutoring), culture (e.g., dance or music lessons), andconsulting. Women in rural regions undertake food production such as cheese making, milkprocessing, growing herbs, drying fruits, and baking, but not manufacturing. Women alsoengage in trade, including shuttle trade.179. In contrast, many men have started businesses in the growing field of informationtechnology, but almost no women have businesses in this sector. Several intervieweesdrew attention to the hospitality industry, and especially tourism, as fields in which thereis further potential for women to start and expand businesses. In fact, many focus groupparticipants stated a personal interest in taking advantage of opportunities in this field(Box 2).252 Ibid.253 L. Hovhannisyan. 2007. Water to Market Activity of the Millennium Challenge Account—Armenia Program: Gender Analysis. Yerevan:ACDI VOCA. p. 20.254 Assessment of Women Entrepreneurship Development in Armenia, p. 15.53