Dr. Mary Margaret Fonow. Director of the School of Social Transformation, is the co-director in the partnership between ASU and Yerevan State University in Armenia. The school is participating in a Women's Leadership Program that will help establish a Center for Gender & Leadership Studies at YSU. (Photo by Perla Farias)ASU will partner with the largest public university in Armenia to promote the advancement of women in education, business, politics and society.
As one of the five American universities chosen to participate in the Women's Leadership Program, ASU will partner with Yerevan State University to develop a new curriculum in women and gender studies.
The three-year partnership, developed by the U.S. Agency for International Development and Higher Education for Development, is funded by a $1.3 million award given to the Melikian Center at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The center is in charge of research and educational programs in Russian, Eurasian and East European studies.
The partnership will establish the Center for Gender and Leadership Studies at YSU, which will officially open May 7, and also give eight YSU scholars the opportunity to participate in a semester-in-residence program at ASU.
YSU Deputy Vice Rector Alexander Markarov is the director of the International Cooperation Office and has previously worked with ASU on other projects.
He said once the Center for Gender and Leadership Studies opens, courses such as Image of Women in Armenian Advertisements, Gender Differences in the Labor Market of Armenia and Armenian Women’s Movement in the 18th and 19th Century will be offered. Other courses will be implemented with the help of ASU throughout the duration of the program.
Project Director Victor Agadjanian, professor in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, said this government initiative coordinates U.S. federal assistance to developing countries in the areas of health, social developments, women's leadership and gender equality.
He said ASU was interested in participating because of its already extensive research and expertise in the area.
Agadjanian said ASU will use University resources, faculty and staff to carry out the partnership and coordinate three types of activities: instruction, policy-oriented research and outreach activities.
Instructional activities include developing courses in gender equality and women's advancement, he said. ASU faculty and staff will also help train YSU faculty to efficiently teach these courses, Agadjanian said.
The policy-oriented research focuses on women's issues, especially those that have a direct impact on public policy.
The center will also coordinate activities, lectures and seminars to promote women's advancement in the labor force, politics and on the social scale, he said.
Agadjanian said the grant allows enough resources to create a small seed grant program at YSU for applicants interested in promoting women's careers and policies against gender violence.
"(ASU) is helping them create the center, strengthen it and enable it to fulfill those three goals," he said. "We will do that, not by telling them what to do, but by sharing our experience and training their faculty."
Project Co-Director Mary Margaret Fonow, School of Social Transformation director, is in charge of the eight YSU scholars that will be in-residence at ASU during the 2013-14 school year.
The residence program will train the scholars, so they can take what they've learned at ASU and develop a syllabus relevant to their country. Their syllabus will be incorporated into the curriculum of the new women and gender studies courses at YSU.
She said participants in the semester-in-residence program could take classes in their particular area of interest, which include women in politics, women in the workforce, domestic violence and religion.
Participants could also attend lecture series, cultural events and learn more about public administration and public policy.
"Armenia is a former country of the Soviet Republic," Fonow said. "Since the end of the Soviet Union, these countries have had to create their own government, and the scholars are interested in how to implement women into the government."
Fonow said the three-year partnership will ensure that the center and curriculum become a permanent part of YSU.
She said after the three years, ASU's formal obligations to the project will end but, ASU will maintain a close relationship with YSU.
"It is our goal to make sure they continue improving relationships between men and women," Fonow said. Agadjanian said a partnership like this is important, because it shows that countries are realizing women do not have equal opportunities, and to advance in numerous areas, women must be equally involved.
He said Armenia is a male-dominated culture and women are generally stereotyped as only being able to take care of the home.
He said for Armenia to compete globally, women need to be given opportunities that they lack, and support in their professional and social lives.
"Women’s involvement is indispensable in Armenia if it wants to grow," Agadjanian said. "You can’t ignore the other 50 percent of the population. They deserve equal opportunities."
Markarov said this partnership is important because about 60 percent of the students at YSU are female, and they are performing at par or better than their male counterparts.
He said when these female students try and enter the workforce, they are usually overqualified because better, higher-paying jobs go to male graduates.
He said the program will help improve female students' outcome in the job market.
"The program wasn't started to change things. It was started to improve the situation and increase awareness of gender issues that might exist in Armenia," Markarov said. Reach the reporter at ppineda@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @paulinapineda22
