There are few statues of women in Yerevan. What does this say about us as a society that values equal rights? Below are excerpts from American University of America (AUA) students enrolled in a persuasive writing course exploring this topic as part of an in-class writing assignment. We present them to you on the occasion of March 8, International Women’s Day. 

Maria Mkrtchyan 

As the sun sets, Mother Armenia proudly faces Mount Ararat, bearing our past and surveying our present. This description of a national alpha female completely disregards the fact that the panorama surrounding Mother Armenia includes many other statues of musicians, composers and writers, which, guess what, are all male. Mother Armenia would be profoundly upset if she knew that the closest female statue to her is the chunky and clothes deprived woman with exposed buttocks facing the sky. We are speaking of the bare Botero, smoking a steel cigarette, at the Cascade. 

 It is a paradox that our culture honors women. 

They are glorified, almost sacredly, but only in the narrowly confined context of specific social standards. When it comes to equal rights, feminism still has a long way to go in our society. Mother Armenia does look like a real feminist ready to go into battle for her rights - except that she is not real. She is a national metaphor. What about those real women such as Srpouhi Dussap, recognized as the first Armenian feminist writer? Did she not deserve to have her place on a city street or in a square? Apparently, sculptors were too busy carving statues of naked muses and damsels in distress. 

Botero Statue: Naked In March, or Bare It All

Gayane Aramyan 

Statues became popular figures in Yerevan in the 20th century when Armenia joined the Soviet Union. They were mostly dedicated to writers, politicians and musicians, and they were mostly men. 

Before the 19th and 20th centuries, Armenian craftsmen sculpted xachqars (crosses carved out of stone). These carved works recounted biblical histories and often embodied Christ. Rarely did they depict Saint Mary together with Jesus Christ. We still do not know why there are so few xachqars that depict Saint Mary. Perhaps sexism was rooted a long time ago and carved in stone. 

One explanation for this gender imbalance is the lack of space on a stone because the central part of a xachqar must depict a cross. If the sculpture had additional space on the stone, he was more inclined to depict Jesus than Saint Mary, a display of gender inequality from early on. 

In the years following the founding of the Soviet Union, statues represented individuals who shaped history and ushered cultural change. Many of these statues were built to transmit the values of the Communist regime and legitimize its leaders who were mostly men, and so sexism existed in the country long before women gained the right to vote.  

Arguably, Mother Armenia is the biggest statue in Yerevan and may suggest that we actually do appreciate the role of authoritative women in society. However, Mother Armenia does not represent a real historical figure. We tend to generalize the importance of women in society and feel more comfortable honoring them in the abstract. We see them as the embodiment of certain virtues but not of tangible achievements. Until this wrong is righted, Armenia will remain a sexist country. 

It is high time that we replace a number of middling, male statues with brilliant women in marble, bronze and steel. Let us erect statues that pay tribute to the feminine gender. 

Mirey Kazandjian 

One might conclude that Armenia is a man’s world by the sheer number of male statues, but is it really? 

Consider Mother Armenia located in Victory Park high above the city. 

This female statue symbolizes peace and power and personifies the strong women who have helped their husbands and sons during times of war. Her strategic and towering position indicates that she is guarding our country. 

Although most statues in Armenia represent male figures, one of the most important ones does not, and this speaks volumes about the important role that women play in Armenian society. 

Tradition and Transcendence

 Garbis Wizoyan 

It is true indeed that most statues in Yerevan are that of men, yet most Armenians are clueless about the social injustices that plague the modern world. 

Who shall we point our social-justice-bearing-fingers at to smite down the patriarchy that plagues Yerevan’s sculpting culture? 

Do we rise up in arms and topple the entirety of our government for their approval of this 9 to 1 penis to vagina ratio? Do we wrangle all the sculptures responsible for this injustice and force them through a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies? Unfortunately, the majority of the city’s residents are oblivious and ignorant of the universal issue of equal rights. 

Consider the existing female statues in Yerevan: they recount a long tale of ignorance and denial that comes from generations of chauvinism and conservatism. One might argue that the biggest statue in Armenia is that of a woman, standing watchful over the Turkish border and keeping the country safe. We cannot deny that the statue in question used to be none other than Stalin who was not guarding the nation, but, rather, making sure that the chains of his totalitarian oppression would remain unbroken.   

The fact that the only exceptional female statue in the country, Mother Armenia, has undergone a sex change operation, which taken on its own is ineffable to most Armenian men, is the nail in the coffin for this testosterone ridden nation. Yet the country dotted with so many landmarks celebrating the achievement of men is hardly short of prominent and talented women, both in modern and ancient history. 

Maryam Israelyan 

I can imagine how smart men determine whose statue is worthy of a place on a street or in a square. They come together and deliberate on the issue and decide that there should be more statues of women across Armenia. The men are confident that they can resolve the issue of gender inequality. They try to think of women who made a significant contribution to society, but they find no one. “This is too sexist of an outcome,” they conclude.  “Women must have done something significant. The statue of Mother Armenia should be good enough to address the perceived gender gap.” 

The problem, of course, is not with statues. The problem is, and has always been, with history.   

The technical task of erecting the statue of a woman is simple: pick a woman; settle on the composition; sculpt her figure, and give it a spot in public. At least, that is how it is done with a man. It is not that we lack successful women in history. Taking care of children, cooking and providing sustenance to the family are heroic tasks, but they are thankless ones. Statues were dedicated to men who contributed to wars and revolutions. Trouble making was the privilege and precinct of man. They have often been rewarded for their mad genius and violence with statues. 

Denying that there is sexism is arrogant. Thanks to feminism such a position is untenable today in many parts of the world. The number of women statues though is not to blame. Women statues on our streets reflect their roles in history and they embody our biases and values. They are sadly represented correctly.   

Top photo: Mother Armenia: Symbol of Masculine Might?