Armenian Women Against Temporary Leave Benefits Bill Demonstrate Tomorrow

At 6:30 pm on Nov. 24, a group of young women living in Armenia, current and future mothers, will be holding a peaceful demonstration in front of the president’s residence. The reason? The group, which is affiliated with neither any political parties nor NGOs, is asking Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to protect their rights and not ratify a draft law on “Temporary Leave Benefits” which has already passed a third reading at the National Assembly. 

According to an open letter issued by the group on Nov. 22, the bill restricts benefits for pregnant and post-partum women, as well as those who ill or providing care. 

“With this letter, we would like to invite your attention at most to the first benefit, since if until now maternity and post-partum benefits were defined by the actual amount of the woman’s salary (for 140 days, calculated based on her average salary over the last 3 months), then this bill proposes to restrict this benefit at most by 150,000 RA drams. 

“We find that such amendments can have only negative consequences for our nation and our state, since this bill will force each woman who is paid a [monthly] salary more than 150,000 RA drams to stand before an alternative: to keep a normal lifestyle or have a child, and to condemn the latter to a very conditional existence, in the sense of both means of care, household conditions and quality medical assistance,” reads the letter in part.

Furthermore, the letter continues, youth who receive more than 150,000 RA drams in the Republic of Armenia go mainly to high-quality specialists and the majority of them speak foreign languages. Since this bill directly affects their quality of life, it will be an impetus for those specialists to emigrate to foreign countries which offer more fair and just working and living conditions. 

“Considering the aforementioned negative phenomena, as well as that at present, only you can interrupt the approval of this bill, by making use of your constitutional right and not signing it, we ask you to consider our concerns and realize one of the state priority objectives enshrined in Article 48 in the RA Constitution: the protection of the family, motherhood and childhood,” concludes the letter.