Global Gender Gap Report:  Armenia  ranking 64th  

ArmInfo.Armenia has defined the countries in the region based on gender equality gap indicator.  This was announced by the UN Permanent Representative to Armenia Francoise Jacob during the UN Women event focused on enhancing the economic potential of women.

Referring to the Global Gender Gap Report -2024, she pointed out that  Armenia is ranked 64th out of 146 countries (compared to 61st the  previous year). Following Armenia in the ranking, among  CIS  countries, are Georgia -69th place,  Kazakhstan-76th place,  Kyrgyzstan-90th place, Azerbaijan- 103rd place, Uzbekistan- 108th  place, and Tajikistan- 112th place. Only Belarus and Ukraine ranked  55th and 63rd place respectively, were ahead of Armenia. Turkiye was  placed 127th.

In detailing the registered results, the UN Permanent Representative  noted that 33% of ministers in the Armenian government are women  along with 24% serving as deputy ministers, while the number of women  MPs has increased from 23% in 2020 to 36% by the end of 2024. Jacob  also pointed out that there are no women serving as  governors in the  regions of Armenia, but 22% are deputy governors. Only 6% of mayors  are women, with a similar percentage serving as their deputies. In  municipal councils, women make up 29% of the representation. At the  same time, 33% of employees in the judicial system of Armenia are  women, with 20% in the police. Regarding Armenia's diplomatic  missions in various countries, she reported that in total there are  86 male ambassadors and only 14 are female.  To enhance the potential  of women, UN Women implements the UN Women Empowerment Principles  (WEP) program. In Armenia, only 27 companies have joined this  program, while there are already 10,000 worldwide (from 141  countries). The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) also provides  assistance in implementing programs that align with these goals. 

In an interview with ArmInfo, the Head of the AAD, Nora Alanakyan,,  emphasized that strengthening the potential of women is one of the  most important areas of the Agency's activities. She noted that  achieving gender equality is a complex process, but the Austrian  Development Agency is implementing various programs to expedite  progress. 

In an interview with ArmInfo, Vahe Sargsyan, the program coordinator  of the Austrian Development Agency,  noted that the situation with  gender equality in the communities has significantly improved in  recent years. "All processes on gender equality are progressing,  thought not as quickly as we would like, but in any case, there is  progress," he said.  Sargsyan also highlighted the increasing role of  women in community administrations and  the service sector.  Additionally, he pointed out several issues in the communities,  particularly concerning the availability and quality of public  services,  which hinder women's professional success. "We are trying  to encourage and create opportunities for women in the regions of  Armenia to participate in various trainings and retraining programs,"  the program coordinator said. He expressed confidence that such  efforts and the implementation of various initiatives will ultimately  lead to a noticeable reduction in gender inequality. <I believe that  the economic empowerment of women should be a part of the  any  state's policy,> Sargsyan emphasized.