YEREVAN (Snark)–In Armenian families–50 percent of women’suffer from violence–75 percent of females are subjected to physical and moral humiliation in their daily life and about six percent to sexual violence–Agaron Adibekyan–director of the independent sociological center Sotsiometr–told journalists at a press conference Tuesday–December 12. He maintains that violence in Armenian families has become something of a sad tradition.
The figures quoted by Adibekyan were based on the results of a poll involving 1,200 women in all the regions of Armenia–which was conducted jointly with the Women’s Rights Center. Adibekyan said that most Armenian women do not fully comprehend what constitutes violence and many take it for granted. "Our women have a sufficiently low level of legal knowledge and do not turn to law-enforcement agencies–even in cases of rape. Women–who are beaten by their husbands do not realize that they can take legal action," Adibekyan stressed.
According to the poll–Armenian women are quite pessimistic about the future. 35 percent think that the situation will only get worse and 25 percent do not expect changes for the better.