WEBVTT

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Well, I was born and grew up
in this province, Aragatsotn,

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in the Talin region
in the village of Katnaghbyur.

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(Applause)

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When I was a schoolgirl,
I was very tall compared to my classmates.

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Let me give you an idea:

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errr ... rrr ... errr

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In our school various competitions
were held during physical education class.

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One of them is stuck in my memory.

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A red line on the floor
and a strong rope,

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that was all that was needed
to organize the competition.

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The two competitors
on opposite sides of the red line

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holding the ends of the rope

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were waiting until the whistle sounded,

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when they pulled with all their strength

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until the comparatively weak participant
crossed the red line.

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The competition was held in groups
for girls and for boys.

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First the girls competed, then the boys.

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I don't know whether it was an expression
of patriarchal culture or a sports law.

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Probably, it was a sports law.

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When competing with the girls,
I won every one.

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You remember errr ... rrr ... errr ?

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Yeghish was the winner in the boys' group.

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Yeghish was the same way in the boys group
as I - errr ... rrr ... errr

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Then, I noticed the meaningful look

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of our physical education
teacher towards me.

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I understood immediately what he wanted.

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He wanted me to compete with the boys.

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And I competed with the boys
breaking the sports law.

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This one: Ararat.

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This one: Armen.

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I beat them.

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You see, don't you?

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We didn't have many boys in our class:
Vahan, David, and Samvel.

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And little by little I started to blush.

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When competing with Yeghish, I didn't
pull the rope with all my strength,

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and I was the one to cross the red line.

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Why did I blush and not pull the rope
with all my strength

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when competing with Yeghish?

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Because suddenly I woke up to the fact
that if I continued like this -

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you understand I had got rather far -

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but if I continued like this,

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I would not fit the image
of a beautiful, tender and lovely woman.

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At that time, I was very small,
only 10 or 11 years old.

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But my environment had already taught me
to take into account the stereotypes,

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and I didn't dare object
to the popular stereotyping

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that men are strong and women are weak.

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I was embarrassed by my physical strength
and adjusted to social expectations.

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I always spoke in such a way

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that what I said fitted the stereotypes
and social expectations.

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What are they?

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How do they impact the steps we take,
our activities, our behaviour,

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and consequently our quality of life.

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Stereotypes are conventional concepts
formed by society

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that provide ready solutions
and answers for various situations.

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Probably, when they were formed,

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they had their objective reasons
and met with the requirements of the time.

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But as time goes on,
and life's requirements have changed,

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quite naturally these stereotypes

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will be outdated
and inadequate for the time

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and simply harm us.

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Now, let me give you an example.

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In ancient times,

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when man was responsible
for food and the safety of their families

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to provide all this,

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he did hard physical work,

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went to war,

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cultivated wheat fields with a yoked ox.

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At that time, it was natural and logical

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that the men were free

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from house chores
and care of the children.

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Today, most of our men,

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let's not say every man, but most of them,

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rarely or almost never deal
with physical work,

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and continue to think
in terms of this stereotyping,

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that household chores or childcare
are not for them.

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These are all exclusively
women's responsibilities.

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In many cases,
a woman in the family works,

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cares for the family's material expenses,

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but irrespective of this, nobody helps her
with the household chores or childcare.

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She has all this to do by herself.

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I am a photojournalist by profession.

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I don't want to address the peculiarities
of my profession in detail,

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but there is something that happens
to me very often.

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With my backpack on my shoulders,

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by bus, minibus, taxi, on foot,

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with the help of maps, asking people,

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I go and find the heroes of my articles.

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It's unbelievable, but my simple backpack
has a magical quality.

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It makes me younger
by about 10 to 15 years.

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I don't think I look young for my age;

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on the contrary,
I look just entirely my age.

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But just because of having a backpack
and doing the work of photojournalist,

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I must be rather young.

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The fact, that the girl with a backpack
can be married, moreover, have a child,

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simply sounds like a fantasy story.

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Then the first question that arises is:

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Why have you come here?

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Before starting my job,
I need to work with my heroes

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telling them that everything
is fine in my family,

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there is food in the refrigerator,

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my kids won't be left at kindergarten,
I am a good housewife, a good wife,

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and a good mother.

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Society has certain expectations of women.

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It's very hard for women not to give up
at some time in their life.

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It's accepted that, for women,
there is both work and family.

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Fortunately, there are many cases
where women don't give in.

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They don't concede
at any time in their life,

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and they're none the worse for not doing.

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On the contrary,
such women have everything:

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a good job, a family, children,
and numerous other possibilities.

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Again, due to my job,

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very often I deal with women
and listen to their stories;

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that is my favourite part of my job.

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One common thing that I notice is

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that, in the case of major issues,

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what they think is of less value.

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They don't take decisions.

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They subjugate themselves

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to their mother, father,
other members of the family,

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husband, husband's parents.

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And, indeed, I'm not talking about
trivial, secondary issues.

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Completely the opposite.

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Education, choice of profession,

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marriage to this or that person,

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number of children,
gender of children, health issues,

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important key issues,

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women leave the decisions to others.

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And to the questions:
"Why didn’t you do as you wanted?"

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"Why didn't you insist on your decision?"

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most women, almost 10 out of 10, answer:

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"Nobody asked me."

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Can you imagine
she had a decision to make,

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but not having been as much as asked,
she has conceded?

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Because we must be led,
need it or not -

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being a stereotype: "You are a woman,
you must be modest and obedient."

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Social values are created

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by different institutions.

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Today I'll address two of them:

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community and media.

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And, by the way, these two institutions
have very pronounced differences.

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The community expectations
of women are as follows:

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a women should be educated
in limited professions,

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marry in time,

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have children, bring them up,

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and if she can also take up a profession

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that doesn't interfere
with peace in the family,

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if it can be worked in,
then it just excels expectations.

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Media expectations teach women

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to have screen beauty from childhood:

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long legs, neat waist, abundant breast,

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lined lips, lined eye brows,
long eyelashes,

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sleek long hair,

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sleek long nails,
long is very important here,

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accentuating clothes,

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and high heels - so high,
that walking becomes impossible.

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In other words, to be a woman

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whose only purpose
is to be desirable to men.

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They become victims of this stereotype
at different ages

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and according to their level of education.

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They spend most their time
and large amounts money

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on beauty salons and plastic surgery,

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to fit defined standards.

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The victims of this stereotyping

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include women from various social layers.

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And, by the way, these women
will be loved, men will marry them,

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they will have children,

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they will be respected
as the mother of their children.

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They will be given expensive gifts:

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A car? - Here you are.

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Money? - As much as you want.

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You want to work?
You want to go out of the home? -

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I will set up a business for you.

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But don’t think and don't make decisions;

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limit yourself to wishes -
I make the decisions.

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Dear women and girls,
decision is the most important.

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Let's concede everything,

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keeping for ourselves
our own conscious decision.

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Society will deprive us of our ability
to dream and make decisions,

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and that is because we expected of it.

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Let's concede all material things:

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perfume, cars, money, shoes,
diamonds, fur coats.

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Let's concede all these things

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and keep for us the most important:
our own conscious decision.

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(Applause)