BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — The Tufenkian Foundation and the Women’s Support Center are jointly sponsoring a luncheon featuring a talk by Maro Matosian, the executive director of the Women’s Support Center in Armenia, on November 9, at the Iroquois Club.
The talk by Matosian is titled “Protection of Women in Armenia.”
Matosian is the founder of Women’s Support Center, which serves as a domestic violence center, offers protection, reeducation and empowerment of victims. The organization promotes social change and aims to educate the community on gender equality and domestic violence and its consequences. In 2024, the Parliament in Armenia approved the WSC-proposed legislation to amend the Domestic Violence and Criminal Law, in order to offer better victim protection of and accountability of the perpetrator.
Matosian founded the organization in 2010 in response to the prevalence — and acceptance — of domestic violence in Armenia with a pilot grant from Tufenkian Foundation, the Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA) and the US Agency for International Aid (USAID). Matosian expanded the program to advocate for the defense of women’s rights in Armenia and in 2011 also opened a shelter for domestic violence victims and for the first time introduced international standards and methodology in Armenia providing comprehensive assistance to victims of DV. She is one of the founding member of the Coalition to Stop Violence against Women.
According to a 2011 Wilson Center report, between 1988 and 1998, 30 percent of all murders in Armenia were cases of domestic violence, overwhelmingly perpetrated by men. Then, the issue gained center stage in 2010, when Zaruhi Petrosyan, a 20-year-old mother of an infant girl, was beaten to death by her husband and mother-in-law. Neighbors reported that her husband, Yanis Sarkisov, had thrown her body down a flight of stairs so he could claim that she died as a result of the fall. Sarkisov received a 10-year prison sentence, while his mother, who gained custody of Zaruhi’s child, faced no charges.
An estimated 17.2 percent of women in Armenia reported experiencing domestic violence. However, this likely underrepresents the true prevalence as gender-based violence is significantly underreported in the country. According to the , 43 percent of survivors stated that they had never talked to anyone about their abuse.
