Opinion | Armenia’s female councillors were abused for challenging the patriarchal political system
On 13 February, female councillors from Armenia’s women-led opposition party Yerkir Tsirani were attacked, physically and sexually, during a Yerevan City Council session. The women were later blamed for the attack, and for ‘inappropriate behaviour’ in the council. While the women politicians’ actions were met with hostility from some, they have also sparked public resistance against gendered violence, and against the patriarchal political system that perpetuates it. Nonviolence meets force