Women, Militarism, and Political Representation: The Case of Armenia

How does militarism affect women’s presence in the political process? Through a focus on the Republic of Armenia during the period 1990-2020, we examine the puzzle of women’s political representation. The country’s legacy of communist-era ideology of women’s equality, its democratic transition, women’s high levels of educational attainment and labor force participation, and the 2007 gender quota adoption should have served to place Armenia in the top 50 countries in women’s political representation. Yet for two decades, the country appeared low on international rankings of women’s political empowerment. To unpack this puzzle, we revisit two strands of the women-and-war literature—one that ties militarism to the dominance of men, and one that finds increases in women’s parliamentary representation in the aftermath of conflict. We find that both have merit. Armenia’s long history of conflict with Azerbaijan and high military spending have reproduced traditional gender roles, including a militarized masculinity which favors men in positions of political power. The devastating 2020 war, however, may have helped turn the tide that began earlier with constitutional reforms in 2015, elections in 2017, and anti-government protests in 2018. A new gender quota dramatically enhanced women’s political representation. Drawing on socio-economic and political indicators as well as documentary and interview data, our paper contributes to literatures on women, gender, and conflict; on patterns and variations in women’s political representation; and on women in Armenia. Future research could examine the direction of gendered political change following the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan’s unilateral military action in September 2023.