OC Media

OC Media

Georgian Dream–backed sexual harassment bill put before parliament

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A 2017 ‘Take Back the Night’ rally demanding leg­is­la­tion against sexual harass­ment (Dato Parulava / OC Media)

Sexual harass­ment in public and at work will become an admin­is­tra­tive offence in Georgia if a new bill initiated by the Parliament’s Gender Equality Council is passed. [Read more…]

To change the system from within or without — the dilemma for feminists in ‘New Armenia’

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Maria Kara­petyan (Anahit of Erebuni)

As more and more women choose to enter politics in rev­o­lu­tion­ary ‘New Armenia’, a debate is raging within the country’s feminist circles: how best to transform Armenia's patri­ar­chal systems — from within or without. [Read more…]

Voices of Georgian emigrants — ‘They treated us like dogs’

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(/Getty images)

Since the 1990s, thousands of Georgians have left home in search of oppor­tu­ni­ties abroad, pushed out by food poverty, debts, unem­ploy­ment, or to escape violence in the family. Below are stories from three women who braved landmines, hidden con­tain­ers, and frozen seas in search for a better future in Greece. [Read more…]

‘If she goes out — her relatives will kill her’

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‘A woman should know her place. A woman should show love to us all. A woman is property, and she belongs to a man. If a woman walks around naked, or if she does not behave properly, she answers to her husband, her father, and her brother. According to our customs, if a woman goes out too freely, her relatives will kill her… That’s how it happens. A brother kills his sister, a husband kills his wife… But as President, I cannot allow them to be killed. So, women shouldn’t wear shorts.’ [Read more…]

Age discrimination in Armenia: why women turn to plastic surgery to find work

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Beauty salon in Yerevan. (Nazik Arme­nakyan /Daphne)

With high levels unem­ploy­ment, Armenians are espe­cial­ly vul­ner­a­ble to exploita­tion from unscrupu­lous employers. Given a lack of legal pro­tec­tions, employers are free to dis­crim­i­nate against female appli­cants based on their age or how they look. For some women, the only answer they see is to undergo cosmetic pro­ce­dures, to make them look younger in the hope of finding a job. [Read more…]

Voice from Dedoplistskaro | ‘I dreamed of seeing a child protection hotline and calling it’

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Sopio Jeter­ishvili (Salome Sagharadze /Women of Georgia)

‘I think that if a person really wants to do something, if it’s in their soul, they can do it. I’ve wanted to be inde­pen­dent since I was a child. I made several attempts at it. I escaped from home a few times. I don’t know why but since very early childhood, when I was so little, I already knew I didn’t want to live in that house, where they don’t love you and you don’t love them.’ [Read more…]

Devdariani labels sexual harassment allegations ‘gossip’ and vows to sue eight women

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Zviad Dev­dar­i­ani (GPB)

Zviad Dev­dar­i­ani, the former head of Georgian non-gov­ern­men­tal organ­i­sa­tion CiDA, has said he will sue eight women for ‘violating his honour and dignity’. Dev­dar­i­ani has faced alle­ga­tions of sexual harass­ment or sexual assault from at least 10 women. [Read more…]

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